Appointment Starting January 5, 2009

Research Interests:

My research interest is in the area of oral infection and immunity, particularly the inflammatory and innate defense mechanisms in pulpal and periodontal tissues in response to microbial infection. We focus on the elucidation of early inflammatory events in pulp tissues after external insults, specifically, the role of the coordinated activities of neuropeptides and chemokines in neurogenic inflammation. We also study the regulation of genes that are involved in host immune defense in gingival epithelial cells challenge by periodontal bacteria using gene array approaches.

A recent research endeavor has focused on the characterization of dental pulp stem cells, their potential to differentiate into odontoblasts and the use for pulp tissue regeneration.

Recent Publications:

G. T.-J Huang, H.N. Dang, H.-B. Zhang, and S. K. Haake.  Differential Regulation of Cytokine Genes in Gingival Epithelial Cells Challenged by F. nucleatum and/or P. gingivalis. Microb. Pathog. 37(6):303-312, 2004. Park, S.H., Hsiao, G. and Huang, G.T.-J. Role of Neuropeptides in the Regulation of Interleukin-8 and Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1 Expression in Human Dental Pulp. Int. Endodontic J. 37(3):185-192, 2004.

G. T.-J. Huang, H.-B. Zhang, Chunyi Yin and S.H. Park. Human b-defensin-2 gene transduction of dental pulp cells: A model for pulp antimicrobial gene therapy. Int. J. Oral Biol. Mar, 7-12, 2004.

Han, D.C., G.T.-J. Huang, L.M. Lin, N. Warner, Gim, J.S. and A. Jewett. Expression of MHC Class II, CD70, CD80, CD86 and pro-inflammatory cytokines is differentially regulated in oral epithelial cells following bacterial challenge. Oral Microbiol. Immunol., 18:350-358, 2003.

Huang, G. T.-J., Zhang, H.-B., Liu, L., Kim, D., and Ganz, T. A model for antimicrobial gene therapy--Demonstration of human b-defensin-2 antimicrobial activities in vivo. Human Gene Therapy, 13:2017-2025, Nov 20, 2002

Huang, G. T.-J., Do, M., Wingard, M., Park, J. S., and Chugal, N.,  Effect of interleukin-6 deficiency on the formation of periapical lesion after pulp exposure in mice. Oral Surg. Oral Med. Oral Path. Oral Radiol. Endod., 92(1):83-8, 2001.

Huang, G.T.-J., Kim, D., Lee, J. K.-H., Kuramitsu, H. K. and Kinder Haake, S.  Interleukin-8 and Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 Regulation in Oral Epithelial Cells by Selected Periodontal Bacteria: Multiple Effects of Porphyromonas gingivalis via Antagonistic Mechanisms. Infect Immun. 69(3):1364-1372, 2001.

Huang, G.T.-J. Zhang, X. and Park, N.-H., Increased ICAM-1 expression in transformed human oral epithelial cells: Molecular mechanism and functional role in peripheral blood mononuclear cell adhesion and lymphokine-activated-killer cell cytotoxicity. Int. J. Oncology, 17:479-486, 2000.

Han, Y., Shi, W., Huang, G.T.-J, Haake, S.K., Park, N.-H., Kuramitsu, H., Genco, R.J., Interactions between periodontal bacteria and human oral epithelial cells:  Fusobacterium nucleatum adheres to and invades epithelial cells. Infect. Immun., 68(6):3140-3146, 2000.