
Douglas A GrangerUC Irvine; Johns Hopkins University · Institute for Interdisciplinary Salivary Bioscience Research
Douglas A Granger
PhD
About
428
Publications
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Introduction
Dr. Granger is engaged in multi-institution international research (ABCD, ECHO, SERONET, AProN, WASH Benefits Bangladesh, Harlem Longitundinal Development Study) and is focused on discovery, measurement, and application of enzymes, hormones, antibodies, chemicals, cytokines in oral fluids. Emeritus Professor at UC Irvine, adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University, Founder of Salimetrics LLC, Co-Founder of Salivabio LLC, and is Chief Scientific and Strategy Advisor at these companies.
Additional affiliations
September 1998 - February 2022
Salimetrics LLC
Position
- CSSA
August 1994 - June 2010
August 2013 - May 2016
Education
September 1992 - June 1994
June 1990 - August 1992
September 1984 - June 1990
Publications
Publications (428)
Despite the integration of salivary inflammatory cytokines into research across the biobehavioral, psychological, clinical, and health-related disciplines, there is little guidance regarding the biospecimen collection, handling, and storage practices that maximize the quality and validity of salivary cytokine data. Furthermore, associations between...
In recent decades, the integration of salivary bioscience and psychological science has had a profound impact on our understanding of the interactions between the psychological, social, and physiological factors of health (e.g., Hoyt & Zimmerman, 2020). In addition to its relevance to a wide range of research topics within psychological science—fro...
Saliva contains pathogen-specific antibodies that can provide quantitative information on the type and temporality of infection. As such, saliva as a biospecimen can be used to noninvasively assess seroconversion to infectious pathogens in the clinical setting as well as for epidemiological surveillance, improving understanding of the epidemiology...
The integration of salivary biomeasures in biobehavioral, psychophysiological, and clinical research has greatly expanded our ability to study the biopsychosocial processes underlying health. Much of this research, however, has failed to adequately assess and adjust for the impact of oral immune activity on salivary biomeasure concentrations and as...
Saliva is a widely used sample in epigenetic research with children due to its non-invasive nature. Since DNA methylation (DNAm) profile is cell type (CT) specific, salivary DNAm associations with exposures may be influenced by CT compositions, which is highly variable in saliva as it contains immune and buccal epithelial cells (BEC). Reference-bas...
Understanding the biological processes underlying poor self-rated health (SRH) can inform prevention efforts. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of using self-reported measures and self-collected biospecimens, such as saliva, to understand physiological functioning and assist with health surveillance and promotion. However, the associ...
Human metabolism is complex, and is impacted by genetics, cohabitation, diet, health, and environmental inputs. As such, we applied untargeted LC-MS metabolomics to 1425 saliva samples from a diverse group of elementary school-aged children and their caregivers collected during the Family Life Project, of which 1344 were paired into caregiver/child...
BACKGROUND
Emerging evidence supports that women with histories of abuse have heightened levels of stress and immune dysregulation. Few studies have examined the biological plausibility of this association in U.S. Black women– a population disproportionately affected by gender-based violence, health disparities, and generally under-represented in r...
A regulated stress response is essential for healthy child growth and development trajectories. We conducted a cluster-randomized trial in rural Bangladesh (funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01590095) to assess the effects of an integrated nutritional, water, sanitation, and handwashing intervention on child healt...
Human metabolism is complex and dynamic, and is impacted by genetics, diet, health, and countless inputs from the environment. Beyond the genetics shared by family members, cohabitation leads to shared microbial and environmental exposures. Furthermore, metabolism is affected by factors such as inflammation, environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposu...
Exposure to toxic heavy metals has been associated with the development of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, fewer studies have examined the associations between abnormal levels of essential trace metals and ADHD, and none have done so using saliva. We investigated whether salivary metals were associated with ADHD in adolesc...
This paper provides a detailed summary and discussion of the concept of stress and how it relates to the health, wellbeing, and performance of corrections officers. In line with these objectives, we focus on three areas: (1) providing a more detailed definition of the concept of stress; (2) a discussion of the ways that increased exposure to stress...
Studies examining the impact of early adversity on physiological responsivity to environmental challenges in later life yield a complex pattern of findings and ambiguity regarding the direction of effect, with some studies reporting heightened responses and others reporting dampened responses. One potential reason for these mixed findings is an ove...
Herein, we review established clinical use cases for SARS-CoV-2 antibody measures, which include diagnosis of recent prior infection, isolating high titer convalescent plasma, diagnosing multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), and booster dosing in the immunosuppressed and other populations. We then address whether an antibody correl...
Background
Hundreds of millions of children in low-and middle-income countries are exposed to chronic stressors, such as poverty, poor sanitation and hygiene, and sub-optimal nutrition. These stressors can have physiological consequences for children and may ultimately have detrimental effects on child development. This study explores associations...
Background:
Poor immune function increases children's risk of infection and mortality. Several maternal factors during pregnancy may affect infant immune function during the postnatal period.
Objectives:
We aimed to evaluate whether maternal micronutrients, stress, estriol, and immune status during the first or second trimester of pregnancy were...
Human oral microbial communities are diverse, with implications for oral and systemic health. Oral microbial communities change over time; thus, it is important to understand how healthy versus dysbiotic oral microbiomes differ, especially within and between families. There is also a need to understand how the oral microbiome composition is changed...
Background
Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) has been associated with detectable levels of cotinine (a nicotine metabolite) in children’s saliva. However, tobacco smoke also contains toxic and essential trace metals, including chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni) and zinc (Zn).
Objective
The current study...
Blast-induced neurotrauma (BINT) frequently occurs during military training and deployment and has been linked to long-term neuropsychological and neurocognitive changes, and changes in brain structure. As military personnel experience frequent exposures to stress, BINT may negatively influence stress coping abilities. This study aimed to determine...
Background:
Lithium medication is considered to be the first-line treatment for bipolar disorder as a monotherapy, and for treatment-resistant depression with lithium augmentation. However, because of potential toxicity, lithium levels must be monitored frequently. Recent studies have demonstrated a significant correlation between lithium levels m...
Salivary bioscience is noteworthy in its history, as well as in the breadth and scope of its impact. The minimally invasive nature of sampling oral fluid allows for evaluation of individual and intra-individual change in biological processes in ways and settings not possible with traditional biospecimens. The range of measurements is expansive (e.g...
Traumatic injury is linked increasingly to alterations in both stress response systems and psychological health. We investigated reactivity of salivary analytes of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (cortisol) and autonomic nervous system (salivary alpha amylase, sAA) during a psychosocial stress procedure in relation to psychological health o...
Theory and research suggest chronic direct and indirect exposures to racism impact health, and stress-responsive inflammation may play a role in these paths. This study examines links between forms of racism-related stress, salivary markers of inflammation during acute psychosocial stress, and perinatal mental and physical health in a racially hete...
Background
Inflammatory responses play key roles in the development and progression of many pathological conditions, including neurodegenerative diseases. Accurate quantification of inflammatory factors in saliva would be highly advantageous, given its convenience and non-invasive nature, especially in elderly populations.
Methods
In this study, w...
Perceived racial discrimination has been associated with the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activities—two major stress response systems. To date, most studies have used cross-sectional data that captured retrospective measures of the racial discrimination associated with current physiological stress re...
Background
To advance our understanding of the health-related consequences of chronic cannabis use, this study examined hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and sympathetic nervous system (SNS) reactivity and regulation in response to a well-characterized, acute, social evaluative stress task among cannabis users and non-users. We also explore...
Rationale
In the United States, Black women are disproportionately affected by HIV, accounting for most new HIV infections diagnosed among women. Socio-structural barriers to HIV testing include stigma and discrimination but may be mitigated by resilience.
Objective
We aimed to examine the effect of discrimination and resilience on HIV testing beh...
Inflammatory responses play key roles in the development and progression of many pathological conditions, including neurodegenerative conditions. Accurate quantification of inflammatory factors in saliva would be highly advantageous, given its convenience and non-invasive nature, enabling use as biomarkers for disease processes especially in older...
In October 2020, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Serological Sciences Network (SeroNet) was established to study the immune response to COVID-19, and "to develop, validate, improve, and implement serological testing and associated technologies" (https://www.cancer.gov/research/key-initiatives/covid-19/coronavirus-research-initiatives/serologica...
Background:
Extremely preterm (EPT) birth has been related to dysregulation of stress responses and behavioral/learning problems at school age. Early adverse experiences can blunt HPA axis reactivity. We hypothesized that an attenuated cortisol awakening response would be associated with developmental and behavioral problems at school age in EPT c...
Background:
Global efforts are needed to elucidate the epidemiology of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the underlying cause of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), including seroprevalence, risk factors, and long-term sequelae, as well as immune responses after vaccination across populations and the social dimensions...
Background
While support from family caregivers is essential in the care of patients with heart failure (HF), caregiving places a considerable burden on family caregivers. We examined the preliminary effects of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for caregivers of individuals with HF.
Methods
In this pilot randomized controlled trial, patients with...
Uric acid levels during pregnancy have been examined as a potential indicator of risk for gestational diabetes mellites, hypertension, and related adverse birth outcomes. However, evidence supporting the utility of serum uric acid levels in predicting poor maternal and fetal health has been mixed. The lack of consistent findings may be due to limit...
Blood-based biomarkers of brain injury may be useful for monitoring brain health in athletes at risk for concussions. Two putative biomarkers of sport-related concussion, neurofilament light (NfL), an axonal structural protein, and S100 calcium-binding protein beta (S100B), an astrocyte-derived protein, were measured in saliva, a biofluid which can...
Environmental enrichment can be used to improve the welfare of dolphins in zoos and aquariums. Bottlenose dolphins under professional care are typically provided with a range of enrichment that has a variety of features and levels of complexity at various frequencies. In the present study, a subset of data from a larger study entitled “Towards unde...
A growing body of research is documenting how racial and ethnic populations embody social inequalities throughout the life course. Some scholars recommend the integration of biospecimens representing the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, neurological and endocrinological processes, and inflammation to capture the embodiment of inequality. Howeve...
Importance: A regulated stress response is essential for healthy trajectories, but the integrated effects of early childhood environmental and nutritional interventions on stress physiology are unknown.
Objective: To assess the effects of a combined nutritional, water, sanitation, and handwashing intervention on physiological stress response, oxida...
Objective:
To determine if low resting basal AM cortisol and flat diurnal cortisol slope that has been reported in female abuse victims, which is dysregulated in the same way in female violent perpetrators, could be corrected and if healthier diurnal cortisol patterns are associated with less aggression in adult female victims.
Design and methods...
Objective
The narrow therapeutic window of lithium medications necessitates frequent serum monitoring, which can be expensive and inconvenient for the patient. Compared to blood, saliva collection is easier, non-invasive, requires less processing, and can be done without the need for trained personnel. This study investigated the utility of longitu...
The way an animal uses its habitat can serve as an indicator of habitat appropriateness for the species and individuals. Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus and Tursiops aduncus) in accredited zoos and aquariums experience a range of habitat types and management programs that provide opportunities for dolphins to engage in species-appropriate b...
Accredited zoological facilities are committed to fully understanding the behavioral, mental, and physical needs of each species to continuously improve the welfare of the animals under their professional care and detect when welfare has diminished. In order to accomplish this goal, internally consistent and externally valid indicators of animal we...
This study reports comprehensive clinical pathology data for hematology, serum, and plasma biochemistry reference intervals for 174 apparently healthy common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and reference values for 27 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus), 13 beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas), and 6 Pacific white-sided do...
Bottlenose dolphins are a behaviorally complex, social species that display a variety of social behaviors. Because of this, it is important for zoological facilities to strive to ensure animals display species-appropriate levels of social behavior. The current study is part of the multi-institutional study entitled “Towards understanding the welfar...
In recent decades, animal welfare science has evolved to utilize a multidisciplinary approach to assess the welfare of animals in accredited zoos and aquariums. Science-based animal welfare assessments have become an essential component of management programs and widespread application is expected by animal care professionals. Management practices...
High-resolution non-invasive cetacean tagging systems can be used to investigate the influence of habitat characteristics and management factors on behavior by quantifying activity levels and distance traveled by bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus and Tursiops aduncus) in accredited zoos and aquariums. Movement Tags (MTags), a bio-logging devi...
Accredited zoos and aquariums continually strive to ensure high levels of animal welfare for the animals under their professional care. Best management practices include conducting research to better understand factors that lead to optimal welfare and then turning findings into practice. The current study is part of the larger Cetacean Welfare Stud...
The goal of the current study was to create reference intervals and values for several common and one potential novel physiological indicators of animal welfare for four species of cetaceans. The subjects included 189 bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), 27 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus), eight Pacific white-sided dolphins...
Cetaceans are long-lived, social species that are valued as ambassadors inspiring the public to engage in conservation action. Under professional care, they are critical partners with the scientific community to understanding the biology, behavior, physiology, health, and welfare requirements of this taxonomic group. The Cetacean Welfare Study was...
Background
Individuals who have experienced repeat sexual violence victimization face adverse mental and physical health outcomes, including immune and stress response functioning. We aim to further understand repeat sexual violence victimization to develop responsive and appropriate treatment for survivors of sexual violence.
Methods
We present t...
Objective
Determine the effects of animal assisted interactions (AAI) on activity and stress response in pediatric acute care settings.
Design
Randomized treatment control design.
Setting
Inpatient pediatric acute care units (PICU, CVICU and Hematology/Oncology).
Patients
Eighty pediatric inpatients (49% male) age 2–19 years.
Intervention
The A...
Background:
There is increased risk of cardiovascular, metabolic, and hypertensive disorders in later life in the preterm population. We studied school-age children who had been born extremely premature who had undergone endocrine, cardiovascular, and anthropometric evaluations.
Methods:
School age measurements of salivary cortisol, adrenal andr...
Left censoring in salivary bioscience data occurs when salivary analyte determinations fall below the lower limit of an assay’s measurement range. Conventional statistical approaches for addressing censored values (i.e., recoding as missing, substituting or extrapolating values) may introduce systematic bias. While specialized censored data statist...
The narrow therapeutic window of lithium medications necessitates frequent serum monitoring, which can be expensive and inconvenient for the patient. The use of saliva as a biofluid may have advantages over blood, as it is non-invasive, easier to collect, requires less processing, and can be collected without the need for trained personnel. This st...
Best practice standards for measuring analyte levels in saliva recommend that all biospecimens be tested in replicate with mean concentrations used in statistical analyses. This approach prioritizes minimizing laboratory-based measurement error but, in the process, expends considerable resources. We explore the possibility that, due to advances in...
Aim
To examine individual variability between perceived physical features and hormones of pubertal maturation in 9–10-year-old children as a function of sociodemographic characteristics.
Methods
Cross-sectional metrics of puberty were utilized from the baseline assessment of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study—a multi-site samp...
The prefrontal cortex and limbic system are important components of the neural circuit that underlies stress and anxiety. These brain regions are connected by white matter tracts that support neural communication including the cingulum, uncinate fasciculus, and the fornix/stria-terminalis. Determining the relationship between stress reactivity and...
SARS-CoV-2 is the cause of an ongoing pandemic that has infected over 36 million and killed over 1 million people. Informed implementation of government public health policies depends on accurate data on SARS-CoV-2 immunity at population scale. We hypothesized that detection of SARS-CoV-2 salivary antibodies could serve as a non-invasive alternativ...
As ecosystems that support human health, societies, and civilization change in the era of the Anthropocene, individuals with disproportionate balance of salivary hormones may be at greatest risk of morbidity and mortality. Vulnerable communities, in particular, are overburdened by inequities in features of built environments linked to health dispar...
Peer rejection and acceptance experiences are commonplace with potential to promote emotional and adrenocortical stress reactivity. Risk for heightened stress reactivity during these social challenges may be influenced by individual differences in social interaction anxiety (SIA) and the common gene variant, OXTR rs53576, but this relationship rema...
Growing evidence suggests that inflammatory responses, in both the brain and peripheral tissues, contribute to disease pathology in Huntington's disease (HD), an inherited, progressive neurodegenerative disorder typically affecting adults in their 30-40 s. Hence, studies of inflammation-related markers in peripheral fluids might be useful to better...