22nd Annual Mark Wilson Conference (2023)
2023 MWC Information:
Invited Speakers
Stephen S. Dominy, M.D.
Porphyromonas gingivalis in Alzheimer’s disease brains: Evidence for disease causation and treatment with small-molecule inhibitors
Stephen S. Dominy, M.D., is the co-founder and former Chief Scientific Officer of Cortexyme, a biotech company that developed orally bioavailable, small-molecule inhibitors of gingipains from Porphyromonas gingivalis for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease based on Dr. Dominy’s discovery of gingipains in the brains of AD patients. Dr. Dominy is currently a staff scientist and research director in the Department of Bioengineering at Stanford University with a focus on the ultrastructural localization of gingipains in the brains of AD and Parkinson’s disease patients, along with the identification of gingipains in various cancer tissues.
Marcelo Freire, DDS, PhD, DMedSc
Host-Microbial Interactions and Human Saliva Phenotypes in Health and COVID-19
Associate Professor
Department of Human Genomics and Infectious Diseases at J, Craig Venter Institute (JCVI)
Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health, Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego (USCD)
PREPARE Institute (UCSD) https://prepare.ucsd.edu/our-team/faculty/index.html
Marcelo Freire is a clinician-scientist, and his research aims to decode the molecular basis of chronic inflammation. He studies oral fluids and mucosal tissues as a non-invasive model to investigate host-microbial interactions. With a focus on innate immune cells, such as neutrophils, his team aims to understand how commensals and infectious agents impact the local and systemic inflammatory responses at the mucosal interface. To investigate the molecular composition and function of human saliva, his team has developted of a novel online database to survey the role of the human oral proteome in the context of health and disease (https://salivaryproteome.org/).
Recent Links:
Institute for Interdisciplinary Salivary Bioscience
About the Oral Immunology/Microbiology Research Group
The Oral Immunology/Microbiology Research Group is currently comprised of 191 investigators, representing 77 universities and commercial organizations from 15 countries. The group had its first meeting in 1991 and has met consecutively each year to date. It is primarily, but not exclusively, through the annual meeting that the mission of the OIMRG is achieved.
This meeting, which was designed to facilitate in-depth discussions by more established investigators, is built around topical areas encompassing host responses to oral bacteria, pathogenic mechanisms, and studies of host-derived factors and host-genetics, and is guided by the following objectives:
- To foster interaction and collaboration among scientists interested in oral immunology and microbiology
- To promote information exchange and collaboration between academicians and their colleagues, including those working in industry
- To provide a forum through which new investigators can begin to network with more established investigators
These principles have remained constant and virtually all participants who have been invited to this meeting, including outside speakers, remark on its uniqueness, because of both its small size and intimate nature, permitting interchange by senior investigators in a way that is unique and unparalleled. Group members are able to interact in a congenial atmosphere which helps minimize barriers to information exchange. This informal atmosphere encourages discussions during the day and well into the evenings and is responsible for many, many scientific collaborations over the years, not to mention lasting friendships.
Another notable quality of the conference is the distinguished outside speakers this meeting is able to attract. Speakers have included Nobel Prize awardees, a Shaw Prize winner (the Asian equivalent of the Nobel), and several members of the National Academy of Science during the past 10 years. Because of the “personality” of this meeting, several of the outside speakers have chosen to continue to attend the conference in future years as attendees themselves even though the oral cavity is not the focus of their research.
MARK WILSON CONFERENCE
2023 SPONSORS
The Oral Immunology/Microbiology Research Group is fortunate to have relationships with corporations, research centers, universities and individuals that have played a large part in sustaining the Mark Wilson Conference through their participation and financial support.
Our sponsors’ patronage is vital to maintaining the overarching concepts of the meeting and assists the organizers with upholding the value it provides to the oral health research community. Current sponsors of the 2023 meeting are:
Special thanks to the Wilson Family, Ann Progulske-Fox, Susan Michalek and Jenny Katz!
For information on supporting the Mark Wilson Conference, please contact the conference coordinator, Jacob Burks.