91PORN

The San Antonio Chapter of the American Association for Dental Research invited Julie T. Marchesan, D.D.S., Ph.D., as guest speaker for their 2019 Fall Dinner Lecture held on October 16, 2019. Dr. Marchesan is assistant professor at the Adams School of Dentistry’s Department of Periodontology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. With an extensive training in oral health sciences, Dr. Marchesan’s research focus is primarily on the role of innate immune receptors in the pathogenesis of periodontal disease. In a well-attended lecture, Dr. Marchesan presented “Exploring the Biologic Basis of Personalizing Periodontal Care”, in which she details her research on periodontal disease and the possible genetic predisposition for inflammation.

Dr. Yong-Hee Chun, associate professor in the Department of Periodontics and current president of the San Antonio Chapter of the American Association of Dental Research, states that “Dr. Marchesan’s work is important because she is utilizing genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to identify novel candidate genes in patients and then translate them into mouse models to study pathways and mechanisms in periodontal disease. Dr. Marchesan could very well identify targets to ameliorate or even cure chronic periodontal disease.”