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Seeking simple methods for the early detection of periodontitis Nagihan Bostanci builds three-dimensional model of gums in order to understand how mild gum inflammation can advance to periodontitis (tooth loss). She hopes that her research will help to bring about new, improved diagnostic and prognostic methods.
Nagihan Bostanci researches the causes of gum inflammation and why it can advance. The milder form of gum inflammation, gingivitis, improves with oral hygiene, but if left untreated can become chronic and lead to periodontitis. “Inflammation is the body’s way of defending itself against bacteria, but if the inflammation is prolonged it can become harmful instead of beneficial,” says Professor Bostanci. “It then becomes the motor driving the disease. My research is about understanding this transition better.” Professor Bostanci examines the severe form of gum inflammation, periodontitis, in experiments where she has cultivated human cells in three-dimensional models of gums. “The models which we’ve developed enable us to study in detail the encounter of the host with the responsible oral bacteria, how the inflammation establishes and progresses, and which proteins are involved” she says. “New proteomic methods help us analyse the results.”
Professor Bostanci hopes that her research will lead to new biomarkers for early diagnosis and prognosis of periodontal disease. “Periodontitis develops slowly and silently. I would like my work to contribute to simple methods of early detection and possibly prevention.” Another theme that interests Professor Bostanci is the importance of oral health for a person’s general health, where she considers that periodontal inflammation is a possible link. “I will be keen to follow this line of research at KI as there are ample opportunities to collaborate across disciplines” she says.
Nagihan Bostanci Professor of Inflammation Research, specialising in Periodontics at the Department of Dental Medicine Nagihan Bostanci was born in 1976 in Biga in western Turkey. She graduated as a dentist in 1999 at Ege University, Izmir, earning her PhD in periodontology from the University of London in 2007. She then worked at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry at Queen Mary University of London until 2008, when she transferred to the Eastman Dental Institute at University College
FROM CELL TO SOCIETY 2016
London until 2009. From then until 2016 she researched and taught at the Centre of Dental Medicine, University of Zürich, Switzerland, where she became docent in 2013. Nagihan Bostanci was appointed professor at Karolinska Institutet on 1 July 2016.
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