Faculty Pages - UF College of Dentistry

Yoonsuk Park

Oral Biology

Research Assistant Professor
(352) 392-0123
ypark@dental.ufl.edu

Ph.D., University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada,
    Microbiology

M.Sc., Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea,
    Biotechnology

Main Interests:

Characterization of genes involved in pathogenicity of an oral pathogen, Porphyromonas ginginvalis; The ability of P. gingivalis to invade into human gingival epithelial cells appears to be a very important step for pathogenicity of the organism. However, understanding of this mechanism at the molecular level is very limited. My current research interest is the identification and characterization of P. gingivalis genes which may be involved in invasion and survival in host cells. A number of studies have shown that a number of pathogenic bacteria have been shown to possess the virulence factors selectively expressed and/or secreted under certain environments. Recent studies have shown the involvement of stress response proteins of various pathogens. Therefore, in my study, stress response proteins will be characterized as potential virulence factors of P. gingivalis. These may aid in the understanding of the pathogenesis of the disease.

Publications:

Park, Y., Simionato, M.R., Sekiya, K., Murakami, Y., James, D., Chen, W., Hackett, M., Yoshimura, F., Demuth, D.R., & Lamont, R.J. (2005). Short fimbriae of Porphyromonas gingivalis and their role in coadhesion with Streptococcus gordonii. Infect Immun., 73(7), 3983-9.

Zhang, Y., Wang, T., Chen, W., Yilmaz, O., Park, Y., Jung, I.Y., Hackett, M., & Lamont, R.J. (2005). Differential protein expression by Porphyromonas gingivalis in response to secreted epithelial cell components. Proteomics., 5(1), 198-211.

Park, Y., Yilmaz, O., Jung, I.Y., & Lamont, R.J. (2004). Identification of Porphyromonas gingivalis genes specifically expressed in human gingival epithelial cells by using differential display reverse transcription-PCR. Infect Immun., 72(7), 3752-8.

Wang, T., Zhang, Y., Chen, W., Park, Y., Lamont, R.J., & Hackett, M. (2002). Reconstructed protein arrays from 3D HPLC/tandem mass spectrometry and 2D gels: complementary approaches to Porphyromonas gingivalis protein expression. Analyst, 127(11), 1450-6.

Lamont, R.J., El-Sabaeny, A., Park, Y., Cook, G.S., Costerton, J.W., & Demuth, D.R. (2002). Role of the Streptococcus gordonii SspB protein in the development of Porphyromonas gingivalis biofilms on streptococcal substrates. Microbiology, 148(Pt 6), 1627-36.

Chung, W.O., Park, Y., Lamont, R.J., McNab, R., Barbieri, B., & Demuth, D.R. (2001). Signaling system in Porphyromonas gingivalis based on a LuxS protein. J Bacteriol., 183(13), 3903-9.

Nakhjiri, S.F., Park, Y., Yilmaz, O., Chung, W.O., Watanabe, K., El-Sabaeny, A., Park, K., & Lamont, R.J. (2001). Inhibition of epithelial cell apoptosis by Porphyromonas gingivalis. FEMS Microbiol Lett., 200(2), 145-9.

Chen, W., Laidig, K.E., Park, Y., Park, K., Yates, J.R. 3rd, Lamont, R.J., & Hackett, M. (2001). Searching the Porphyromonas gingivalis genome with peptide fragmentation mass spectra. Analyst, 126(1), 52-7.

Xie, H., Chung, W.O., Park, Y., & Lamont, R.J. (2000). Regulation of the Porphyromonas gingivalis fimA (Fimbrillin) gene. Infect Immun., 68(12), 6574-9.

El-Sabaeny, A., Demuth, D.R., Park, Y., & Lamont, R.J. (2000). Environmental conditions modulate the expression of the sspA and sspB genes in Streptococcus gordonii. Microb Pathog., 29(2), 101-13.

Belton, C.M., Izutsu, K.T., Goodwin, P.C., Park, Y., & Lamont, R.J. (1999). Fluorescence image analysis of the association between Porphyromonas gingivalis and gingival epithelial cells. Cell Microbiol., 1(3), 215-23.

Park, Y., & Lamont, R.J. (1998). Contact-dependent protein secretion in Porphyromonas gingivalis. Infect Immun., 66(10), 4777-82.