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.