Research Seminars
2024-25 RESEARCH SEMINAR SERIES SPEAKERS
Gina Lewin, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology, School of Medicine
Case Western Reserve University
September 10, 2024
*The Lewin lab uses ecological and evolutionary frameworks to understand the role of these microbial interactions in polymicrobial sites, especially the oral microbiome.
Batbileg Bor, PhD
Assistant Professor of Oral Medicine, Infection, and Immunity
Harvard School of Dental Medicine
September 24, 2024
*Dr. Bor's lab is seeking to define the mechanisms and significance of interbacterial interactions in the human oral cavity
Ryan T. Demmer, Ph.D., MPH
Professor of Epidemiology, Division of Epidemiology
Department of Quantitative Health Sciences
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science
October 8, 2024
*Dr. Demmer's research focuses on clarifying causes and the correlation of chronic diseases including diabetes, atherosclerotic vascular disease, heart failure, and dementia.
Seunghee Cha, DDS, PhD
Professor, Department of DN-Oral Medicine
Director – Center for Orphaned Autoimmune Disorders
College of Dentistry, University of Florida
October 22, 2024
*Dr. Cha's research focuses on the rare condition of autoimmune childhood Sjögren’s disease.
Cristiane Miranda Franca, DDS, PhD
Assistant Professor – Department of Restorative Dentistry
Oregon Health & Science University, School of Dentistry
November 12, 2024
*Dr. Miranda's research focuses on understanding the interactions of biomaterials and the immune system to harness the integration of engineered tissues with the host.
Rajesh Khanna, PhD
Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics
University of Florida
December 10, 2024
*The Khanna lab studies allosteric regulation and trafficking of voltage-gated ion channels in chronic pain and neurodegenerative diseases.
Robert Schroth, DMD, MSc, PhD
Professor, and Clinician Scientist - Department of Preventive Dental Science
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
January 14, 2025
*Leading researcher in Early Childhood Caries (ECC), Dr. Robert Schroth has dedicated his career to understanding the impact of nutrition and prenatal factors on the oral health of infants and preschoolers.
Richard Schneider, PhD
Professor, Department of Orthopedics Surgery
School of Medicine
University of California, San Francisco
January 28, 2025
*Dr. Schneider's research has been focused on understanding how individual components of the craniofacial complex achieve their proper size, shape, and functional integration during development and evolution.
Dorota Kopycka-Kedzierawski, DDS, MPH
Professor, Department of Dentistry
Eastman Institute for Oral Health
University of Rochester Medical Center
February 11, 2025
*Dr. Kedzierawski's research interests include risk factors for Early Childhood Caries (ECC), ECC prevention, teledentistry, oral epidemiology, and dental practice-based research.
Conrado Aparicio, Ph.D., MScEng
Vice-rectorate for Research, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer
University International of Catalunya, Barcelona
February 25, 2025
*An expert in the science and engineering of dental biomaterials, Dr. Aparicio is leading this new research group together with various areas of dentistry to focus on the design and development of advanced, innovative, and effective biomaterials that contribute to the prevention and treatment of oral infections.
Malcolm Snead, DDS, PhD
Professor – Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC
University of Southern California
March 11, 2025
*Dr. Snead's current focus on peptide enabled tunable restorative interface to engineer multifunctional peptide-polymer adhesives that work synergistically with SDF to arrest caries and promote tooth remineralization, while inhibiting the stigmatizing side effect of black staining.
Melinda Larsen, PhD
Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
University of Albany
March 25, 2025
*Research in Dr. Larsen’s laboratory is focused on regeneration and repair of tissue damage that occurs due to injury.
Stella Alimperti, PhD, Associate Professor
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology
Georgetown University, Washington, DC
April 08, 2025
*Research in Dr. Alimperti's laboratory at Georgetown University aims to identify the factors controlling the development, maintenance, loss of function, and repair/regeneration of Craniofacial and Musculoskeletal tissues by developing novel tissue engineering and regenerative strategies.
Joshua J. Emrick, DDS, PhD
Department of Biologic and Materials Sciences & Prosthodontics
University of Michigan School of Dentistry
April 22, 2025
*The Emrick lab is interested in studying the molecules, cells, and circuitry of the sensory nervous system innervating the mouth, head, and neck by using a number of state-of-the-art techniques to study trigeminal somatosensory neurons.
Hae Lin Jang, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School
May 13, 2025
*Center for Engineered Therapeutics – clinical translation of discoveries from engineering in medicine. Our mission is to develop novel biotechnologies to overcome currently incurable diseases and injuries, with the end goal of achieving life extension and overcome ageing.
Umesh Deshmukh, Ph.D.
Professor, Arthritis and Clinical Immunology
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation
May 27, 2025
*The primary focus of Dr. Deshmukh's laboratory is to investigate how innate immune responses contribute to the pathology of Sjogren’s syndrome and Sarcoidosis.