School of Dental Medicine - University at Buffalo

Sojar, Hakimuddin M.Sc., Ph.D. Research Associate Professor, Department of Oral Biology

Address:

213 Foster Hall

Buffalo, NY 14214

(716)829-2551

orbhakim@buffalo.edu

Research Profile

Research is directed towards structure-function of Porphyromonas gingivalis cell surface components. Adherence is a critical step in the pathogenesis and important in establishing infection. Porphyromonas gingivalis cell surface components appear to be important in interaction with mammalian cells, they can activate macrophages and play a role in invasion of epithelial cells.The molecular basis of adherence of various cell surface components have been studied at the molecular level.Mechanism of action of various cell surface components are among our current projects. We are exploring the immunogenicity of various components using syntheic peptide approach in order to evalate their uselfulness as vaccines.

Representative Publications Search Publications in MEDLINE

1. Han, Y.W., Ikegami, A., Rajanna, C., Kawsar, H.I., Zhou, Y., Li, M., Sojar, H.T., Genco, R.J., Kuramitsu, H.K. and Deng, C.X. Identification and Characterization of a Novel Adhesin Unique to Oral Fusobacteria. Journal of Bacteriology. 187:5330-5340, 2005.
2. Sojar, H.T. and Genco, R.J. Identification of Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenase of epithelial cells as a second molecule that binds to Porphyromonas gingivalis Fimbriae. FEMS Immunology and Medical Microbiology. 45:25-30, 2005.
3. Sojar, H.T., Sharma, A. and Genco, R.J. Porphyromonas gingivalis fimbriae binds to neoglycoproteins: evidence for a lectin-like interaction. Biochimie. 86:245-249, 2004.
4. Hajishengallis, G., Sojar, H.T., Genco, R.J. and DeNardin, E. Intracellular signaling and cytokine induction upon interactions of Porphyromonas gingivalis fimbriae with pattern-recognition receptor. Immunological Investigation. 33:1-16, 2004.
5. Sojar, H.T., Sharma, A. and Genco, R.J. Porphyromonas gingivalis fimbriae bind to cytokeratin of epithelial cells. Infect. & Immun. 70:96-101, 2002.
6. Sojar, H.T., Han, Y., Hamada, N., Sharma, A. and Genco, R.J. Role of the amino-terminal region of Porphyromonas gingivalis fimbriae in adherence to epithelial cells. Infect. & Immun. 67:6173-6176, 1999.
7. Sojar, H.T., Hamada, N., and Genco, R.J. Structures involved in the interaction of Porphyromonas gingivalis fimbriae and human lactoferrin. FEBS Letter 422:205-208, 1998.
8. Sharma, A., Sojar, H.T., Glurich, I., Homma, K., Kuramitsu, H.K., and Genco, R.J. Cloning, expression and sequencing of a Cell-surface antigen containing a leucine-rich repeat motif from Bacteroides forsythus ATCC 43037. Infect. & Immun. 66:5703-5710, 1998.
9. Sharma, A., Sojar, H.T., Hruby, D.E., Kuramitsu, H.K. and Genco, R.J. Secretion of Porphyromonas gingivalis fimbrillin polypeptides by recombinant Streptococcus gordonii. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 238:313-316, 1997.
10. Sojar, H.T., Hamada, N., and Genco, R.J. Isolation and characterization of fimbriae from sparsely fimbriated strain of Porphyromonas gingivalis. Applied and Environmental Microbiology Vol. (63)6:2318-2323, 1997.
11. Njoroge, T., Genco, R.J., Sojar, H.T., Hamada, N. and Genco, C.A. A role of fimbriae in the adherence of Porphyromonas gingivalis to oral epithelial cells. Infect. & Immun. (65)5:1980-1984, 1997.
12. Sojar, H.T., Hamada, N. and Genco, R.J. High-performance liquid chromatography of P. gingivalis fimbriae. Prot. Exp. & Pur. 9:49-52, 1997.
13. Lala, A., Sojar, H.T., and DeNardin, E. Expression and purification of recombinant human N-formyl-L-phenylalanine (FMLP) receptor: Generation of polyclonal antibodies against FMLP receptor. Biochgem. Pharmacology 54:381-390, 1997.
14. Nagata, H., Sharma, A., Sojar, H.T., Amano, A., Levine, M.J., and Genco, R.J. Role of carboxyl-terminal region of Porphyromonas gingivalis fimbrillin in the binding to salivary proteins. Infect. & Immun. 65:422-427, 1997.
15. Lala, A., Sojar, H.T., and DeNardin, E. A quantitative approach for detection and characterization of formyle peptide receptor in solution using a photaffinity ligand. Peptide Research 9:58-60, 1996.
16. Sojar, H.T., Lee, J.Y., and Genco, R.J. Fibronectin binding domain of P. gingivalis fimbriae. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 216(3):785-792, 1995.