Our Labs

The McCauley/Roca Lab researches hormonal controls of bone remodeling, anabolic actions of parathyroid hormone (PTH), parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP), and the impact and therapeutic potential of PTH in craniofacial osseous wound healing.

The Mishina Laboratory explores how growth factors, particularly the Bone Morphogenetic Proteins (BMPs), function during skeletogenesis and craniofacial development. Targeted diseases are craniosynostosis, frontnasal dysplasia, midface hypoplasia, chondrodysplastic dwarfisms and heterotopic ossification.

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are the most therapeutically exploited adult stem cells, used routinely to treat leukemia and hematologic disease via HSC transplantation. Every year in the United States, 20,000 HSCTs are performed. However, problems remain with this treatment.

My broad research interests are in tumor angiogenesis and stem cell biology. My current research foci are the study of mechanisms regulating the vascularization of head and neck tumors, and the impact of cancer stem cells in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas and salivary gland cancer.

The Polverini Lab focuses on understanding the policy impact of new models of collaborative care on improving access to care for chronically underserved populations and the role precision medicine in the diagnosis and treatment of chronic oral diseases.

The Ritchie laboratory is focused on studying two major dentin noncollagenous proteins, dentin sialoprotein (DSP) and physophporyn (PP) which appear to play a significant role in the conversion of uncalcified predentin to calcified dentin.

The goal of the Sasaki Lab is to develop novel therapeutic approaches for the prevention and treatment of inflammation-associated diseases and to provide better environment for wound healing and tissue regeneration.

The Simmer Hu Laboratory's research is in the areas of tooth development, enamel and dentin formation, biochemistry and molecular biology of amelogenins, and hypophosphatasia and amelogenesis imperfecta.

The Squarize Lab investigates the function of the key signaling pathways and stem cells in epithelial regeneration and disease.

Our lab is dedicated to understanding the complex choreography of cells as they organize during early animal development, giving rise to diverse organ morphologies, which we achieve through genetic manipulation, advanced microscopy, and computational data analysis, in two different model systems.

The Surface Lab utilizes genome-wide approaches followed by molecular and organismal investigations, to understand the molecular responses of bone cells.

The Tenuta Lab is focused on understanding the interactions between the dental biofilm, fluoride and caries, with the goal of developing innovative solutions to reduce caries experience throughout the lifecourse.