Dr. Veerappan Muthukkaruppan, after receiving his Master's Degree in Zoology in 1957 at Annamalai University did his Ph.D. from 1961 to 1965 in the Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA. His Ph.D. thesis is on "the mouse lens induction and differentiation in vitro" and the significance of his finding was illustrated as a cover picture in Investigative Ophthalmology in 1993 showing that anterior lens epithelium isolated from the late embryonic and even adult lens has the ability to differentiate and organize into a complete lens when the neural retinal stimulus is provided in culture.

He has worked as Professor of Immunology for over three decades in Madurai Kamaraj University wherein teaching at Master's level and Research at Ph.D. level were established in the field of Immunology. During this period, he has looked into the origin of T and B lymphocytes in a reptile from which both mammals and birds evolved. He has elucidated the basic mechanism of immunological unresponsiveness in Leprosy. His another major interest has been the development of candidate vaccine and diagnosis for murine typhoid using purified porine protein. He has also developed several monoclonal antibodies to porine.

During his several visits to University of Wisconsin, as Visiting Professor he has developed a mouse corneal model to study the mechanism of angiogenesis induced by tumour, activated allogenic lymphocytes, and subsequently recombinant proteins like fibroblast growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor. His model was also used to study the factors which inhibit angiogenesis.

At present as Director of Research at Aravind Medical Research Foundation Dr. Muthukkaruppan has been involved in organizing Research Laboratory for basic research on several eye diseases. His specific interest are: Immunology of Leptospiral Uveitis and Fungal Keratitis, Characterization and Isolation of corneal epithelial stem cells and Pathogenic mechanism of Diabetic Retinopathy and Eales' disease.

His selected publications in relation to eye research:

• Inductive tissue interaction in the development of the mouse lens in vitro (1965) J. Exp. Zool. 159 : 269 - 287
• Angiogenesis in the mouse cornea. Science. (1979) 205: 1416 - 1418
• Tumor - induced neovascularization in the mouse eye. (1982) J. of National Cancer Institute 69: 699 - 708
• Immune complex induced vascular reactions in mouse skin. (1986) Indian J. of Med. Res. 67: 73
• Macrophage - induced neovascularization in the mouse eye In: Ocular Circulation and Neovascularization. Edr. Dr. Ben Ezra, S. J. Ryan, B. M. Glaser and R. P. Murphy. (1987) pp 355 - 359.
• Immunological status of patients of Eales' disease. (1989) Indian J. Med. Res. 90: 351 - 359
• Biochemical analysis of serum proteins from Eales' Patients. (1989) Current Eye Research 8: 1259 - 1269
• A Ribonuclease Inhibitor (RNAs in) expresses antiangiogenic properties and leads to reduced tumor growth in Mice. (1993) Amer. J. Pathol. 143:507-517.
• The chick embryo aortic arch assay: A new rapid, quantifiable method for testing the efficacy of angiogenesis - modulating factors in serum - free organ culture. (1999) American Association of Cancer Research.
• Identification and evaluation of lipopolysaccaride antigen for serodiagnosis of uveitis associated with Leptospirosis. (2003) J. Med. Microbiol. 52:667-673
• High Expression of p63 Combined with a Large N/C Ratio Defines a Subset of Human Limbal Epithelial Cells: Implications on Epithelial Stem Cells. (2005) Investi Ophtahlmol Visual Science. 46:3631-3636