Faculty Mentors
Every student has a primary mentor and a committee that is composed of at least three other faculty members who guide the students throughout the five or six years of study in the program. Primary mentors meet with students at least once a week. The student must meet with the committee once a semester to report on progress.
Mentors and their areas of research and expertise:
- Libuse Bobek
- lbobek@buffalo.edu
- Antimicrobial activity/mechanism of action of salivary proteins/peptides; regulation of salivary gland-specific gene expression.
- Peter Bradford
- pgb@buffalo.edu
- Moon-Il Cho
- mooncho@buffalo.edu
- Role of NFI-C in odontoblast differentiation and survival; Tissue engineering for tooth supporting tissues.
- Terry Connell
- connell@buffalo.edu
- Mucosal immunology; molecular/cellular aspects of immunomodulation; T cells, B cells, dendritic cells, and macrophages; molecular pathogenesis of Bordetella pertussis and B. bronchiseptica; genetics, biochemistry, and physiology of iron acquisition by bacterial pathogens.
- Ernesto DeNardin
- denardin@buffalo.edu
- Molecular basis of inflammation in oral and related systemic diseases; proteomic studies of chemokine receptors; genetic polymorphisms and oral and related diseases.
Research Profile - Rosemary Dziak
- rdziak@buffalo.edu
- Bone cell metabolism; signal transduction in osteoblastic cells; biomimetics and tissue engineering for bone regeneration.
- Mira Edgerton
- edgerto@buffalo.edu
- Mechanisms by which salivary histatins exert antifungal activity. Salivary structure/function; genomic studies of C. albicans.
- Sarah L. Gaffen
- sgaffen@buffalo.edu
- Signal transduction mediated by cytokines of the IL-2/gamma-c and IL-17 families; biological functions of cytokines in immune-mediated bone loss such as periodontal disease and osteoporosis; molecular structures and signaling pathways of cytokine receptors.
- Robert J. Genco
- rjgenco@buffalo.edu
- Systemic effects of periodontal infections on diabetes and cardiovascular disease and risk factors for periodontal infections. Clinical trials to test diagnostic and therapeutic modulations for infections, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Tissue engineering approaches to regenerating lost bone and soft tissue.
- Steven R. Gill
- srgill@buffalo.edu
- Our research interests are centered around microbial pathogens and the impact of human microbial flora on human health and disease. The current emphasis is on the following research projects: 1) virulence determinants of Staphylococcus aureus, 2) evolution of virulence within the Staphylococci, 3) genome diversity of the oral Streptococci and 4) association of oral microbial flora with oral cancer.
- Richard Gronostajski
- rgron@buffalo.edu
- The role of the Nfic gene in tooth root development and the interactions of other NFI genes with Nfic in tooth formation. Signaling pathways in tooth root development and odontogenesis.
- Elaine Haase
- haase@buffalo.edu
- Molecular analysis of Actinobacillus surface proteins.
- Violet Haraszthy
- vh1@buffalo.edu
- Chunhao Li
- cli9@buffalo.edu
- Biology and Pathogenesis of Pathogenic Spirochetes.
- W. D. (Scott) McCall
- wdmccall@buffalo.edu
- Mastication, jaw reflexes, motor control, modeling of jaw muscle control, pain, and clinical studies.
- Richard K Ohrbach
- ohrbach@buffalo.edu
- Measurement scales related to pain, psychophysiological laboratory studies of pain-related behavior, and diagnostic pain research.
- Stefan Ruhl
- shruhl@buffalo.edu
- The biological functions of human saliva; role of salivary proteins in host defense; microbial binding to human salivary or cell surface glycoproteins.
- Michael Russell
- russellm@buffalo.edu
- Mucosal immunology in oral disease and other mucosal infections; immunity and vaccine development against dental caries; role of IgA in periodontal disease.
- Frank Scannapieco
- fas1@buffalo.edu
- Salivary/bacterium interactions; molecular mechanisms in oral microbial ecology; effects of oral bacteria on systemic diseases.
- Robert Schifferle
- res@buffalo.edu
- Bacterial polysaccharides and lipopolysaccharides; periodontal clinical research.
- Ashu Sharma
- sharmaa@buffalo.edu
- Molecular genetics of periodontal pathogens; genomic and proteomic analysis of oral pathogen virulence factors.
- Hakimuddin T. Sojar
- orbhakim@buffalo.edu
- Structure function studies of potential virulence factors from oral pathogens.
- Maurizio Trevisan
- trevisan@buffalo.edu
- Epidemiology; cardiovascular disease; clinical trials; women’s health; syndrome X; molecular epidemiology of oral-systemic associations.
- Meg Vickerman
- mmv4@buffalo.edu
- Jean Wactawski-Wende
- jww@buffalo.edu
- Osteoporosis and women's health; epidemiology; clinical trials.
- Bing-Yan Wang
- bwang@buffalo.edu
- Shuying Yang
- sy47@buffalo.edu
- Joseph J. Zambon
- jjzambon@buffalo.edu
- Clinical studies of oral bacteria and basic research on oral gram-negative species.
“The unique thing about our PhD program is that, in most cases, the graduate students are also clinical residents, so they get a unique exposure to both worlds.”