Wound Healing & Oral Diagnosis Research Group

Oral and craniofacial wound healing and oral Diagnostics is a very interesting and challenging area of dental science. Researching into the basic biological processes of oral regeneration often create more questions than answers and invites a cluster of a multidisciplinary team involving biochemist, pharmacist, pathologist, dentists, surgeons, nurses as well as researchers in oral medicine and biology to search for evidence in wound healing mechanism and its management.  The fundamental concept under investigation is “how does bone and soft tissue heal"?

Oral diagnostics has evolved into a sophisticated science and serves as a subset of the larger field of molecular diagnostics, now recognized as a central player in a wide variety of biomedical basic and clinical areas. Molecular diagnostics feed into a wide range of disciplines including drug development, personalized medicine (pharmacogenomics) and plays a major role in the discovery of biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of oral cancer and other potentially malignant oral diseases .

Research Goals

The Wound Healing & Oral Diagnostics Research Group  shall investigate the most recent mechanisms of “Tissue Regeneration" through active participation in organized research activities by establishing collaborations with other research centers and linkages with the industries; thus producing research outcomes in the form of new concepts diagnosis and healing , new techniques  and new products in wound management; which will be beneficial to humans. The diagnosis of systemic diseases from substances present in saliva, gingival crevicular fluid (GCF), oral swabs, dental plaque, and volatiles by assessing biomarkers in samples obtained from the oral cavity depends on the biochemical nature of the marker, the source and type of sample being taken, and the mechanism by which the marker enters the oral cavity.

Research Objectives

1. To investigate the current understanding of the mechanisms of oral regeneration ( bone and soft tissue).
2. To investigate new innovative techniques and novel products that are able to enhance wound healing and regeneration.
3. To recommend new concepts in the management of oral and maxillofacial wound defects.
4. Provide non-invasive oral diagnostic tools.
5. Provide multiplexed assays that are being developed as point-of-care (POC) devices.
6. Identifying oral biomarkers that are sensitive and specific enough for early detection of many systemic diseases like diabetes, CV disease and cancers.
   
    

A. Oral Regeneration projects

1.  Role of macrophages and natural killer cells in response to the release of titanium dioxide particles in dental implant osseointegration.
2. Local production of bone substitute for bone grafting applications in medical, oral and craniofacial surgery.
3. Influence of biomaterials on oxidative stress-related response in bone regeneration.
4. Immunocompatibility of decellularized and demineralized bovine bone samples using peripheral blood-derived mononuclear cells.
5. Proteomics analysis of mesenchymal stem cell grown on decellularized and demineralized bovine scaffolds.
6. Development of a chitosan-based scaffolds for bone regeneration applications.
7. In vitro study on Zirconium and Titanium metalloframeworks as potential scaffold material for bone regeneration.
8. Immunocompatibility of Titanium doped phosphate glass (TDPG) and Collagen in mouse models of calvarial defects.

B. Oral diagnostics projects

1.  The Discovery of novel Salivary biomarkers for early detection of oral cancer with background of smokeless tobacco using targeted and untargeted quantitative proteomic and transcriptomic approaches.
2. Bioresistance as a non-invasive screening tool for potentially malignant oral mucosal lesions.
3. Medwakh smoking and early signs of oral neoplastic changes: A case-control study from the United Arab Emirates.
4. The role of oncogenic viruses in the pathogenesis of oral squamous cell carcinoma using molecular analysis
5. Molecular Characterization of Unicystic and Multicystic Ameloblastoma using whole Transcriptomic Analysis 

1. Research in mechanisms of healing and regeneration of bone tissues of the maxilla and mandible including the temporo-mandibular joint as well as assessing mucosal health and disease.
2. Research on the validity of saliva and GCF in early detection of many systemic diseases.

A. Oral Regeneration projects

•  Role of macrophages and natural killer cells in response to the release of titanium dioxide particles in dental implant osseointegration.
• Development of decellularization process of bone tissue for safe clinical use in bone grafting
• Influence of biomaterials on oxidative stress-related response in bone regeneration.
• Immunocompatibility of decellularized and demineralized bovine bone samples using peripheral blood-derived mononuclear cells.
• Proteomics analysis of mesenchymal stem cell grown on decellularized and demineralized bovine scaffolds.
• Development of a chitosan-based scaffolds for bone regeneration applications.
• In vitro study on Zirconium and Titanium metalloframeworks as potential scaffold material for bone regeneration.
• Immunocompatibility of Titanium doped phosphate glass (TDPG) and Collagen in mouse models of calvarial defects.

B. Oral diagnostics projects

•  The Discovery of novel Salivary biomarkers for early detection of oral cancer with background of smokeless tobacco using targeted and untargeted quantitative proteomic and transcriptomic approaches.
• Bioresistance as a non-invasive screening tool for potentially malignant oral mucosal lesions.
• Medwakh smoking and early signs of oral neoplastic changes: A case-control study from the United Arab Emirates.
• The role of oncogenic viruses in the pathogenesis of oral squamous cell carcinoma using molecular analysis
• Molecular Characterization of Unicystic and Multicystic Ameloblastoma using whole Transcriptomic Analysis