About
4
Publications
215
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79
Citations
Citations since 2017
Introduction
I am currently working at SUNY Buffalo in Dr. Ruhl's lab in the Department of Oral Biology. My project in the Ruhl lab focuses on the mechanisms bacteria use to bind to glycoproteins in saliva and on cell surfaces. This research will hopefully lead to new methods of preventing dental cavities and other oral diseases. I mostly focus on microbiology techniques, but I also do some immunology and cell culture work.
I received my Ph.D. from the University of Rochester in May 2016. My advisor was Dr. Rob Quivey. I stayed with Dr. Quivey as a postdoc for one year in order to wrap up my research project. My research in Rochester focused on bacterial physiology as it relates to dental caries. Specifically, I studied the fatty acid and phospholipid synthesis pathways of Streptococcus mutans.
Additional affiliations
March 2017 - present
Position
- PostDoc Position
Description
- Working with Dr. Stefan Ruhl on studying adhesin prtein used by oral streptococci to attach to host sialic acid.
May 2016 - March 2017
August 2010 - April 2016
Education
August 2010 - May 2016
Publications
Publications (4)
The mouth is a first critical interface where most potentially harmful substances or pathogens contact the host environment. Adaptive and innate immune defense mechanisms are established there to inactivate or eliminate pathogenic microbes that traverse the oral environment on the way to their target organs and tissues. Protein and glycoprotein com...
Streptococcus mutans is highly associated with the disease of human teeth known as dental caries. The organism utilizes dietary carbohydrates to produce water-insoluble glucans, which bind to bacteria and catalyze the formation of a polymicrobial niche on tooth surfaces referred to as dental plaque. The S. mutans streptococci also use dietary sugar...
Streptococcus mutans, one of the primary causative agents of dental caries in humans, ferments dietary sugars in the mouth to produce organic acids. These acids lower local pH values resulting in demineralization of the tooth enamel, leading to caries. To survive acidic environments, S. mutans employs several adaptive mechanisms, including a shift...
Extraordinary technological advances in DNA sequencing have greatly accelerated our ability to identify bacteria, at the species level, present in clinical samples taken from the human mouth. In addition, mass spectrometry has evolved such that oral samples can be analyzed for protein and metabolic products, providing insight into bacterial interac...
