Ping Zhang
University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL·Microbiology & Immunology
Gum disease and Alzheimer's disease seem unrelated, yet people with periodontal disease are statistically more likely to have Alzheimer's. Periodontal disease is a chronic infection and inflammation of the tissues holding teeth in place, but its effects may not stay in the mouth.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Neuroscience
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
periodontitis
periodontal disease
Porphyromonas gingivalis
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Feb 2028
What they work on
- Determine how periodontitis regulates activation of microglia, the brain's resident immune cells, in Alzheimer's disease model mice, using three different experimental models of periodontal disease.
- Test whether oral infection with Porphyromonas gingivalis, a keystone gum-disease bacterium, worsens amyloid-beta accumulation, synapse loss and cognitive and behavioral impairment in Alzheimer's model mice.
- Define the role of complement component C1q, the trigger of the classical complement cascade and a microglial product, in microglial priming and activation following Porphyromonas gingivalis infection.
- Test whether periodontitis-associated persistent C1q activation contributes to increased neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease models.
More about the research
Why the two conditions travel together is unknown. This project tests a specific mechanism: that oral infection reaches the brain and primes its resident immune cells to overreact, worsening the damage seen in Alzheimer's disease.
Why it matters
Alzheimer's disease has no clear cause, and periodontitis is both common and treatable. If gum infection and the complement protein C1q turn out to drive microglial over-activation and neurodegeneration, treating periodontal disease or targeting this immune pathway could become a way to reduce Alzheimer's symptoms or lower how often the disease occurs.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Benjamin Singer
University of Michigan, MI·Neuroscience
Determine whether sepsis combined with presymptomatic amyloid deposition increases complement-driven neuroinflammation and synapse loss in 5xFAD mice, measuring microglial activation, engulfment of synapses, and synaptic transmission.
Janina Lewis
Virginia Commonwealth University, VA·Microbiology & Immunology
Define how Porphyromonas gingivalis senses nitrosative stress by determining the structure and biochemistry of HcpR, a regulator that uses a hemin-dependent mechanism to switch on the hcp gene.
Alex Valm
University at Albany, NY·Microbiology & Immunology
Test whether long filamentous cells at the gum line bring plaque bacteria into contact with gum epithelium to start gingivitis, by imaging intact biofilms on extracted teeth with FISH probes for up to 18 bacterial types.
The school
University of Alabama at Birmingham: 45 labs on PI Pages, $866M a year on research, 166 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
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