Oral Microbiome Research Group

Investigating the mechanisms by which oral microbes regulate health and disease

The Oral Microbiome Research Group is a multidisciplinary team of scientists, clinicians and educationalists, investigating the immunological and vascular mechanisms by which oral bacteria (causing gum disease) promote diseases such as cancer, hypertension and sepsis. We are undertaking clinical trials in human participants, and with human tissue, as well as laboratory based studies utilising molecular biology, tissue culture techniques and tissue engineering models.

Our group is committed to antibiotic stewardship, with the objective of reducing antimicrobial resistance.

Principal Investigators

Dr Louise Belfield

Louise is a Lecturer within the Peninsula Dental School, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, and also a qualified Dental Nurse, and her areas of expertise are head and neck cancer, immunology and host-pathogen interactions.

Link to personal profile and full publication list

Key publication: Belfield LA, Bennett JH, Abate W, Jackson SK. Exposure to Porphyromonas gingivalis LPS during macrophage polarisation leads to diminished inflammatory cytokine production. Arch Oral Biol. 2017; 81:41-47.

Dr Raul Bescos

Raul is a Lecturer and Scientist within the Institute of Health and Community (Faculty of Heath and Human Sciences), and his areas of expertise are nutrition, exercise and cardiovascular disease.

Link to personal profile and full publication list

Key publication: Ashworth A, Bescos R. Dietary nitrate and blood pressure: evolution of a new nutrient?. Nutr Res Rev 2017;30(2):208-19.

Dr Zoë Brookes

Zoë is a Clinical Lecturer within the Peninsula Dental School, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, and also a Dental Practitioner, and her areas of expertise are microcirculation, sepsis/antimicrobial resistance and clinical dental research.

Link to personal profile and full publication list

Key publication: Alfieri A, Ong AC, Kammerer RA, Solanky T, Bate S, Tasab M, Brown NJ, Brookes ZL. Angiopoietin-1 regulates microvascular reactivity and protects the microcirculation during acute endothelial dysfunction: role of eNOS and VE-cadherin. Pharmacol Res 2014; 80:43-54.