Alex Valm
University at Albany, NY·Microbiology & Immunology
Dental plaque is not a random pile of bacteria. It is a biofilm, a structured community in which different microbes sit in particular places next to particular neighbors.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Biology
- Topics
dental plaque
oral biofilm
oral microbiome
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Jul 2027
What they work on
- Test whether long filamentous cells at the gum line bring plaque bacteria into contact with gum epithelium to start gingivitis, by imaging intact biofilms on extracted teeth with FISH probes for up to 18 bacterial types.
- Identify structural features shared by disease-associated biofilms below the gum line through quantitative comparison of human periodontitis biofilms and canine models.
- Map where genes are switched on inside filamentous plaque cells when they touch specific partner species, using spatial gene-expression imaging.
- Define how micron-scale spatial structure shapes oral biofilm assembly and growth, using metagenomic sequencing and systems imaging of lab biofilms seeded with healthy donor plaque.
- Identify Corynebacterium matruchotii genes behind long-range biofilm structure using co-culture RNA-seq and mRNA FISH imaging.
- Determine which Fusobacterium nucleatum outer membrane proteins build plaque structure by blocking them with neutralizing antibodies and expressing them in E. coli grown with plaque.
More about the research
Gum disease starts as gingivitis, a reversible inflammation of the gums. It can progress to periodontitis, a chronic disease that damages the tissues holding teeth in place. Both conditions are tied to changes in which microbes are present and how the biofilm is built. The lab's two projects ask how the spatial arrangement of oral bacteria, especially long filament-shaped cells, builds plaque and helps trigger disease. One project studies plaque from patients and animals. The other studies plaque grown in the lab and the molecules that hold it together.
Why it matters
Periodontal disease affects an estimated 40% of US adults and is hard to diagnose early. Identifying the biofilm structures and bacterial molecules that start gum inflammation could support new ways to monitor, prevent and treat gingivitis and periodontitis before the disease causes lasting damage.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Marisol Tellez Merchan
Temple University, PA·Medicine & Clinical Research
Build a Medical Continuity of Care Record that pulls up-to-date health measures from the Pennsylvania Health Share Exchange electronic records into dental school care at Temple.
Ping Zhang
University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL·Microbiology & Immunology
Determine how periodontitis regulates activation of microglia, the brain's resident immune cells, in Alzheimer's disease model mice, using three different experimental models of periodontal disease.
Janina Lewis
Virginia Commonwealth University, VA·Microbiology & Immunology
Define how Porphyromonas gingivalis senses nitrosative stress by determining the structure and biochemistry of HcpR, a regulator that uses a hemin-dependent mechanism to switch on the hcp gene.
The school
University at Albany: 15 labs on PI Pages, $472M a year on research, 144 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
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