Tom Diekwisch
University of Rochester, NY·Medicine & Clinical Research
Titanium dental implants have replaced lost teeth for some sixty years, largely because titanium seems nearly invisible to the body's immune system. Yet as patients live longer and keep implants for decades, implant failure has become an everyday clinical reality.
- Fields
Medicine & Clinical Research
Genetics
Biology
- Topics
peri-implantitis
dental implants
titanium
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jan 2030
What they work on
- Test whether peri-implantitis in a rat jaw implant model is driven by an inflammatory microenvironment and a rise in reactive oxygen species, damaging molecules that signal oxidative stress, around titanium implants.
- Define how titanium particles and ions act through the SETD7-SFRP1-Runx2 pathway, in which an enzyme that tags DNA-packaging proteins raises a blocker of bone-promoting Wnt signals, in periodontal ligament cells.
- Map Setd7 and its H3K4me1 chemical tag on the SFRP1 gene's promoter in titanium-challenged periodontal ligament cells to show how the gene is epigenetically switched on.
- Test whether epigenetic modulating compounds reverse inflammation and bone loss around implants in the rat peri-implantitis model, restoring implant-supporting bone.
More about the research
A frequent cause is peri-implantitis: inflammation of the tissue around an implant that destroys the supporting bone. Dental plaque, surgical complications, and tiny titanium particles and ions shed from the implant surface have all been proposed as contributors. The central question here is what drives that bone loss and whether it can be reversed.
Why it matters
Millions of people, especially older adults, depend on dental implants, and losing an implant to peri-implantitis means repeated surgery and loss of chewing function. By tracing titanium-driven bone loss to a specific epigenetic pathway, this work could identify drugs that calm inflammation around implants and help preserve or regain bone, keeping implants and restored dentition in place.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Stella Alimperti
Georgetown University, DC·Biomedical Engineering
Test how implant-derived titanium particles and bacterial LPS weaken gum blood-vessel barriers through TLR4 (a bacterial sensor) and VEGF (a vessel-loosening signal) passed between fibroblasts and endothelial cells, using a 3D gingival microfluidic system.
Susmita Bose
Washington State University, WA·Biomedical Engineering
Determine how natural medicinal compounds such as curcumin, acemannan and vitamin D3 affect bone-forming activity of 3D-printed porous calcium phosphate and ceramic–polymer scaffolds in cell studies, including the needed doses and release rates.
J Fenno
University of Michigan, MI·Microbiology & Immunology
Characterize how dentilisin, a protease complex built on the PrtP lipoprotein, and the oligomeric Msp protein are assembled in the Treponema denticola outer membrane, using purified native and recombinant proteins.
The school
University of Rochester: 38 labs on PI Pages, $492M a year on research, 308 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.