IMPLANT CHECKLIST

The overall goal of our innate immune research is to understand the role of pattern recognition receptors in the pathogenesis and progression of oral inflammatory diseases particularly periodontitis. Our current focus is on Peptidoglycan recognition proteins and we study this with help of invitro models and human samples... Saliva can provide rich contextual information on the events that take place at the gingiva - oral interface. We have a biobank of over 100 samples along with comprehensive clinical information. We are quantifying the changes in innate immune receptors that spill out into the saliva in these samples with the goal of comparing the differences in their levels during health versus disease. These changes may have the potential to be used as biomarkers to study pathogenesis and progression of periodontal disease... In collaboration with the Bertassoni lab we are developing a "tissue on chip" and other microfluidic devices with the goal of studying innate immune..

Primary location: Portland United States