Oropharyngeal tract
The oropharyngeal team has worked together for the past decade on a variety of projects exploring the oral microbiome.
Their expertise in oral biofilms has also proved invaluable in a recent partnership with the reproductive team to characterize the formation of vaginal biofilms.
Team members
- Oropharyngeal area lead
- Professor, School of Dentistry
- Xu and Todd Kitten have been working together on the role of Streptococcus sanguinis in the oral microbiome, including a collaboration with Gregory Buck, Ph.D., and Myrna Serrano, Ph.D., in the sequence and annotation of the S. sanguinis genome
- Xu and Zhao Lin launched a study of the commensal bacteria and pathogenic bacteria in the oral biofilm, along with Sompop Bencharit, who recently joined the School of Dentistry
- Professor, Oral and Craniofacial Molecular Biology, School of Dentistry
- Deputy Director of the Phillips Institute for Oral Health Research
- Kitten and Ping Xu have been working together on the role of Streptococcus sanguinis in the oral microbiome, including a collaboration with Gregory Buck, Ph.D., and Myrna Serrano, Ph.D., in the sequence and annotation of the S. sanguinis genome
- Associate professor and director of clinical research, Oral and Craniofacial Molecular Biology, School of Dentistry
- Bencharit joined Ping Xu and Zhao Lin in a study of the commensal bacteria and pathogenic bacteria in the oral biofilm
- Professor and director of faculty advancement, Oral and Craniofacial Molecular Biology, School of Dentistry
- Associate professor, Periodontics, School of Dentistry
- Lin and Ping Xu launched a study of the commensal bacteria and pathogenic bacteria in the oral biofilm, along with Sompop Bencharit, who recently joined the School of Dentistry
Representative projects
The track record of oropharyngeal collaborations is documented in a history of collaborative publications and grants, including the following.
Systems biology of oral pathogens
Several large multi-omic (metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, proteomics) data sets or oral microbiome associated bacteria have been generated. Using advanced technologies, comprehensive genome-wide mutation banks have been generated in several of these taxa and these banks are being used to identify genes associated with pathogenesis. Focusing on species of the genus Streptococcus, virulence factors causing infective endocarditis, biofilm genes related to periodontal disease and caries, and fitness genes in susceptibility to blood factors have been identified.