The Oral Health CRC is a large multidisciplinary group located at the Bio21 Institute and the School of Dental
Science that investigates oral diseases at a microbiological, immunological and molecular level. This information is then used to design and develop novel preventive and therapeutic strategies to combat the causes and progression of oral diseases such as periodontitis and dental caries. The Oral Health CRC encompasses a wide variety of disciplines, including structural chemistry, bacterial proteomics and transcriptomics, bacterial ecology, bacterial biofilm analyses, immunology, protein chemistry and peptide vaccine technology. The team has already discovered and characterized novel calcium phosphate stabilizing peptides involved in biomineralisation and commercialized these under the trademark of Recaldent as preventive agents to stop and reverse the progression of enamel demineralisation (dental caries). The further characterisation of the efficacy, clinical applications, structure-function relationships and mechanisms of action of these peptide-mineral complexes and their interaction with salivary proteins is ongoing. As part of research program the group have also characterized a novel antimicrobial peptide (Kappacin) that has activity against oral bacterial biofilm and are currently investigating further bioactive peptides.

Chronic periodontal disease is a chronic inflammatory disease that results in destruction of the supporting tissues of the teeth, is the main cause of tooth loss in
adults and is a major health problem in Australia. The disease is caused by a consortium of specific Gram-negative bacteria, including Porphyromonas gingivalis and Treponema denticola, that exist as part of a polymicrobial biofilm on the tooth surface. The CRC has an integrated program of research studying these Gram-negative bacterial pathogens and their interactions with each other and the host. The aims of this program are to develop novel diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccine technologies to prevent periodontal disease and to learn more about the immune response in bacterial-mediated chronic inflammatory diseases and the methods by which bacteria communicate and coordinate their activities in biofilms.

Techniques: Using recently developed techniques the team is studying the proteome and transcriptome of these bacteria and have developed novel bacterial biofilm culture techniques to study how the interactions between these species contribute to the disease. They are also now interested in using metabolomic approaches to investigate these biofilms. The CRC-is developing and assessing novel peptide-based vaccine technologies. They have characterized novel virulence factors of P. gingivalis and secretion, transport and genetic regulatory systems and determined the contributions of these to the virulence of the bacterium.

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Reynolds Research Group 

Research Staff

Principal Research Fellow 

• Assoc. Prof Stuart Dashper
• Assoc. Prof Neil O'Brien-Simpson

Senior Research Fellows

  Dr Keith Cross

• Dr Nada Slakeski 
• Dr Laila Huq
• Dr Paul Veith

Research Fellows

• Dr Yu Yen Chen
• Dr Troy Attard
• Dr Christine Seers
• Dr Brent Ward (Lab management)
• Dr Ben Peng
• Dr Lianyi Zhang
• Dr Michelle Glew
• Dr Nathan Cochrane

Research Assistants

• Ms Dina Chen
• Mr David Stanton
• Ms Sze Wei Liu
• Ms Deanne Catmull
• Ms Yan Tan
• Ms Gail Brammar

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Postgraduate students

• Kheng Tan
• Shao Bing Fong
• James Pyke
• Zamirah Zainal Abidin
• Nor Azlan Nor Muhammad
• Hasnah Begum Said Gulam Khan
• Ms Gilda Pekin (CRC Business Manager)
• Ms Kate Fletcher (PA to Director)

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