Potential Faculty Mentors

Potential Faculty Mentors have listed their research projects in order to seek possible research collaboration with one or more Dental Hygiene or Dentistry Students.

Potential Mentors

To list projects for possible student collaboration, complete the Application for Listing as a Potential Research Mentor.

Faculty Name: Homa Amini, DDS, MS, MPH

Dr. Amini conducts research aimed at advancing oral health equity through improved access to dental care, with a focus on maternal and child health. Her work investigates how health literacy, early intervention, and the social determinants of oral health influence outcomes for pregnant individuals, infants, and young children.

Faculty Name: Hsun-Liang (Albert) Chan, DDS, MS

Dental Ultrasound Research

Current Investigations

  • Peri-Implant Tissue Correction and Healing Evaluation
  • Parametric Evaluation of Periodontal Inflammation
  • Periodontal Tissue Elasticity Evaluation
  • Imaging of Implant Structures and Bone
  • Multi-Dimensional Jawbone Imaging

Faculty Name: Xi Chen, DDS, PhD

As a clinician-scientist, my research focuses on oral-systemic health interactions in older adults with complex medical histories. Specifically,  for patients with terminal illnesses, my work aims to understand their dental treatment needs and care preferences, which is essential to ensure the quality of care for this vulnerable patient population. I'm also working with OSU's palliative care and oncology teams to integrate oral health care into their practices, providing much-needed preventive care to those who otherwise have no access to regular dental care during their medical visits. For older adults with cognitive impairment, my work aims to understand how cognitive impairment affects oral self-care and other dental-related functions, and to develop functionally tailored oral health interventions to support patients and their caregivers.

Faculty Name: Tammy Duangthip, DDS, MSc, PhD

Potential Projects
Dr. Duangthip’s research focuses on advancing child oral health, improving access to care and community-based education and services, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Current projects include: 

  • Early Childhood Caries: Identifying risk factors, preventive strategies, and caregiver perspectives
  • Caries Management: Clinical trials and systematic reviews on minimally invasive approaches for caries management
  • Dental Education: Impact of community-based dental education on students’ commitment to underserved populations
  • Community Dental Services: Assessing access, utilization, and outcomes of school-based and rural oral health programs

Student Skills

  • Interest in dental public health, cariology, and pediatric dentistry
  • Ability to assist with project implementation, data collection, or analysis (quantitative or qualitative)
  • Good communication, willingness to work with community partners
  • Reliability and professionalism.

Faculty Name: Brian Foster, PhD

My overarching objective as a researcher in the dental-oral-craniofacial field is to understand the molecular mechanisms driving tooth root formation and bring that insight to novel approaches for regenerating tissues and restoring function. To date, specific areas of inquiry have included phosphate/pyrophosphate metabolism and dentoalveolar development and regeneration, developmental regulators of cementum, functions of extracellular matrix proteins in dental development and mineralization, and manifestations of skeletal and endocrine diseases in the craniofacial and dental tissues. More broadly, I am also interested in how knowledge gained from the study of dental-oral-craniofacial connective tissues may also be applied to skeletal development, disease, wound healing, and regeneration.

Faculty Name: Kim Hammersmith, DDS, MPH, MS

Potential Projects
My research involves finding efficient and compassionate ways to prevent and also better provide dental care for (pediatric) vulnerable populations. This involves programmatic and operational type research, or research about specific populations at risk of dental disease but with barriers.

Student Skills
Microsoft Word and Excel, literature review

Faculty Name: Hanin Hammoudeh, DDS, MS

My research interest/area:

  1. Novel Dental Zirconia /multilayered and printed
  2. Dental Implants Biomechanics and Clinical outcomes.  
  3. Digital dentistry, AI and digital workflow precision and trueness.
  4. CAD/CAM surgical guides.

Faculty Name: Justin Kaspar, PhD

Microbes exist within complex communities, often referred to as a microbiome. The human oral microbiome contains upwards of 700 different species, living within different niches of the oral cavity. One of those niches are supragingival biofilms, or microbial biofilms attached to the exposed surfaces of teeth. While several species that live in these communities can promote the host’s oral health, others, such as Streptococcus mutans, convert dietary carbohydrates into acid that erodes the tooth’s enamel causing the formation of carious lesions. The goal of our research project(s) are to eliminate disease-associated bacteria like Streptococcus mutans through microbial ecological engineering — utilizing antagonistic exchanges between microbes to our advantage to specifically target a pathogen of interest, leaving intact health-associated bacteria to promote microbiome homeostasis and the maintenance of the host’s health.  

Faculty Name: Do-Gyoon Kim, PhD

Potential Projects: My current research topics include multiscale (10-2 to 10-7 m) characterization for elastic, viscoelastic, and fracture behavior of bone and cartilage, and dental implant system using nanoindentation at the tissue-level and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) at the organ-level, bone mineralization analysis using micro-CT and clinical cone beam CT (CBCT).

Student Skills: MS Office skill (Excel, Word, Powerpoint etc.). Engineering background is preferred but not required.

Faculty Name: Ching-Chang Ko, DDS, MS, PhD

My research has concentrated on two key areas within integrative oral bioengineering: the biomaterials and biomechanics involved in craniofacial bone remodeling and regeneration, and the application of advanced technology in clinical settings. A significant aspect of my work spans from foundational studies in material synthesis and alveolar bone remodeling- aimed at enhancing our understanding of the underlying biophysical principles—to clinically relevant investigations. These include the use of 3D imaging and artificial intelligence (AI), the study of implant osseointegration, osteoclastogenesis related to bone homeostasis, and the processes of tooth movement.

Faculty Name: Diana Leyva del Rio, DDS, MS, PhD

My research is focused on the comprehensive analysis of the mechanical, physical, and optical properties of various dental biomaterials, including dental ceramics, adhesives, denture base liners, and, in particular, dental resin composites. A significant portion of my work has involved evaluating how these materials perform under clinically relevant conditions, with the goal of improving their reliability, esthetics, and longevity in restorative dentistry. Recently, I have placed greater emphasis on understanding the curing behavior of bulk-fill composite resins and how different light-curing protocols influence key mechanical properties such as surface hardness and flexural strength. This line of inquiry aims to optimize clinical outcomes by identifying curing techniques that enhance material performance. I was recently awarded a research grant to investigate the impact of thermocycling on the mechanical properties of bulk-fill composite materials. This study will specifically examine how filler content correlates with the materials' resistance to fatigue and mechanical degradation over time. The findings are expected to provide valuable insight into the long-term behavior of bulk-fill composites and contribute to evidence-based recommendations for their clinical use. 

Faculty Name: Miaomiao Li, PhD

Dr. Li's research mainly focuses on understanding the role of heparan sulfate in bone health and inflammation, with the goal to develop novel therapy towards osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis and periodontitis. Heparan sulfate is an essential polysaccharide universally expressed at the cell surface and in the extracellular matrix. By interacting with hundreds of proteins, heparan sulfate plays significant roles in human health and disease, which makes it represent a class of biomolecule of great pharmaceutical interests. Dr. Li has extensive experience studying how heparan sulfate works with specific proteins like osteoprotegerin, RAGE, and sclerostin, which are important for bone health and inflammation. The long-term goal of the Li lab is to use this knowledge to develop new treatments that can target heparan sulfate–protein interactions and help treat bone and inflammatory diseases. 

Faculty Name: Luiz Meirelles, DDS, MS, PhD

Potential Projects: As a clinician-scientist, my research focuses on exploring the health and disease parameters of dental, oral, and craniofacial tissues. Our team is dedicated to developing innovative methods that utilize high-resolution sensors to better understand disease onset, progression, and remission through objective data.

Student Skills: Students will have the opportunity to work with digital scans from various translational and clinical studies. Your role will involve generating and processing these scans to produce detailed outcomes using advanced, data-driven software.

Student Restrictions: Students should be prepared to collaborate in a multidisciplinary setting, contributing to the accelerated development of devices aimed at enhancing patient care. Flexibility and the ability to work effectively across different disciplines are welcome. 

Faculty Name: Beau Meyer, DDS, MPH

Potential Projects:
1. How do clinical guidelines translate into Medicaid reimbursement policies? And how do the policies translate into service utilization?
2. What are the primary drivers and barriers for dentists to increase their participation in the Medicaid program?
3. How do alternative modes of care, such as dental and medical integration, affect receipt of dental services?

Student Skills:
1. Critical thinking
2. Work ethic/initiative
3. Scientific writing experience
4. An entry-level understanding of Medicaid operations

Faculty Name: Leonardo M. Nassani, DMD, MBA

Potential Projects: My research focuses on advancing dental technology with applications in education, restorative/prosthetic dentistry, and sports dentistry. Much of my work involves either survey-based educational research or material science studies that evaluate the properties of computer-manufactured dental restorations. These projects aim to enhance the integration of digital tools in dentistry, improve patient outcomes, and push the boundaries of innovation in dental materials.

Student Skills: Ideal candidates should have strong writing skills, a solid understanding of statistics, and familiarity with—or a willingness to learn about—the Institutional Review Board (IRB) process. The ability to engage with both qualitative and quantitative research methods would be beneficial.

Faculty Name: Sarah B. Peters, MS, PhD

I study the dentin-pulp complex through all stages of life including how teeth develop, how the dental pulp tissue responds to injury and/or inflammation,  how tooth healing can be enhanced to prevent secondary caries, and how teeth age on a molecular level. The dental pulp contains the most versatile stem cells of the body and the most sensory innervation of the body, and yet we our tooth restorations most often lead to extractions several years down the road. With our lifespans expanding, we need to develop treatment plans that last longer if we want to help our patients keep their teeth. We believe that our cellular and molecular studies of the dentin-pulp complex will pave the way to personalized treatments for each patient that will help us keep our natural teeth by creating cellular and material treatment plans that promote tooth vitality at all stages of life.

Faculty Name: Peter Reiser, MS, PhD

Potential Projects: CRANIOFACIAL MUSCLE SPECIALIZATIONS. The lab has a focus on the analysis of craniofacial muscles, at the molecular and cellular levels. Jaw-closing, extraocular and laryngeal muscles constitute a group of muscles that have highly specialized motor function. These muscles are recognized to also have complex patterns of sarcomeric protein isoform expression, which are much more elaborate that the patterns that exist in limb muscles. The challenge is to understand how specific sarcomeric proteins, and their individual isoforms, drive the broad repertoire of motor functions that are executed daily by craniofacial muscles. The approach is to study individual isolated muscle fibers by analyzing their contractile properties and the protein composition of the same fibers. The results are used to understand how sarcomeric proteins drive specific contractile properties and motor functions in vertebrate craniofacial muscles.

Student Skills: Students working in the laboratory must have the ability to isolate individual muscle fibers, by fine dissection, and be able to conduct analyses of single fiber protein composition. Extensive training is provided to promote the student's ability to successfully contribute to ongoing projects.

Student Restrictions: There are currently no restrictions in this laboratory on students for participation in the SRP.

Faculty Name: Hillary Schiff, PhD

Potential Projects: My research program focuses on postnatal development of the neural circuits that underlie taste-based behaviors such as sensation, perception, reward, and feeding. We examine maturation of inhibitory neurons and synaptic transmission, plasticity, and microcircuitry in the cortical sensory region for taste, the gustatory cortex. In addition, we study the mechanisms by which taste and nutrient-sensing modulate one another and how these processes shape taste preferences, especially for sugars. Because our taste preferences play an outsized role in determining diet, these research questions have profound implications for nutritional status and diseases around eating including eating disorders, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. In the lab, we use patch clamp electrophysiology, animal behavior, neural tracing, and fiber photometry imaging to probe these questions.

Student Skills: Preferred skills include experience handling mice, pipetting, basic data analysis. 

Faculty Name: Yurdanur Ucar, DDS, MS, PhD

My research is focused on 3 main topics:
1. Additive manufacturing, including 3D printing of polymers and ceramics and laser sintering/melting of alloy powder. Although I don't currently have ongoing research on 3D-bioprinting applications for bone tissue regeneration, I have completed research in this field as well.
2. Dental material research focusing on the mechanical, optical, and biological properties of biomaterials.
3. Dental implant research, including surface characterization, implant abutment connection, digital workflow, mechanical properties, and clinical studies.

Faculty Name: Yi-Chu Wu, DDS, MS

My research focuses on the relationship between chronic systemic inflammatory diseases and periodontitis. My research interests include implementing new technologies such as dental ultrasound, and dental microscopes, into clinical care. Current on-going research projects involves magnification and peri-implantitis treatment outcome, soft tissue assessment with ultrasound for patients with diabetes, soft tissue assessment with ultrasound for patients receiving orthodontic treatment.