Tran Laboratory
An Integrated Approach to Childhood Caries
Principal Investigator
Read BioAbout
The Tran laboratory focuses on diagnostics and therapeutics of early childhood caries related to microbiome and host susceptibility. The primary goal is to examine the role of Streptococcus mutans and the oral microbial communities in children’s susceptibility to early childhood caries. The Tran laboratory also conducts integrated clinical and translational research to test innovations and products in dental and oral health.
Current Projects and Grants
NIH R21DE033799-01A1 PI: Nini Tran 9/1/2024 – 8/31/2026
Title: The Role of Brain-Oral-Microbiome Axis in Adverse Childhood Experiences-associated Dental Caries in Children
The goal of this study is to identify potential links between ACEs, dental caries, and salivary stress-related and immunological biomarkers..
NIH R21DE034129-01 Co-PI: Nini Tran 9/1/2024 – 8/31/2026
Title: Effect of aerosolized tobacco and cannabis products on interkingdom cariogenicity: laboratory and clinical strains of Streptococcus mutans and Candida albicans
The study aims to investigate the biological mechanisms underlying the Sm–Ca responses to ENDS-aerosolized tobacco and cannabis products, which may contribute to caries risk in adolescents and young adults
UCOP TRDRP Pilot award T34IP8201 PI: Nini Tran 7/1/2024 – 6/30/2026
Title: Effect of aerosolized tobacco products on S. mutans-S. sanguinis-C. albicans caries pathogenicity
The major goals of this project are to evaluate the biological mechanisms of S. mutans-S. sanguinis-C. albicans responses to aerosolized tobacco-based products used in ENDS, which may contribute to caries risk in adolescents and young adults.
Publications
- Lin, J., Dinis, M., Tseng, C., Agnello, M., He, X., Silva, D., Tran, N. C. Comparison of the GumChucks flossing system to traditional string floss. Scientific Reports. 2020 (in press)
- Aleti G, Baker JL, Tang X, Alvarez R, Dinis M, Tran NC, Melnik AV, Zhong C, Ernst M, Dorrestein PC, Edlund A. Identification of the bacterial biosynthetic gene clusters of the oral microbiome illuminates the unexplored social language of bacteria durin
- Agnello M., Marques J., Cen L., Mittermuller B., Huang A., Tran N.C., Shi W., He X., Schroth R.J. Microbiome Associated with Severe Caries in Canadian First Nations Children. Journal of Dental Research. 2017 Nov; 96 (12):1378-1385. doi: 10.1177/0022034
- Agnello M., Cen L., Tran N.C., Shi W., McLean J.S., He X. Arginine Improves pH Homeostasis via Metabolism and Microbiome Modulation. Journal of Dental Research. 2017 Jul; 96(8):924-930. doi: 10.1177/0022034517707512. Epub 2017 May 9. PMID: 28486080; PM
- Identification of the Bacterial Biosynthetic Gene Clusters of the Oral Microbio…
- Microbiome Associated with Severe Caries in Canadian First Nations Children
- Arginine Improves pH Homeostasis via Metabolism and Microbiome Modulation
Oral Microbiome: Streptococcus mutans/Caries Concordant-Discordant Children
Lab Members
- Márcia Dinis, Associate Research Scientist
- Joey Kim, DDS/PhD student
- UCLA undergraduate students
- UCLA dental students
- UCLA Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics residents
Collaborators
Intramural collaborators:
- Dr. Renate Lux, School of Dentistry
- Dr. Huiying Li, Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology
- Dr. Myung-Shin Sim, Department of Medicine Statistics Core
- Dr. Chi-Hong Tseng, Department of Medicine Statistics
Extramural collaborators:
- Dr. David Avenetti, University of Illinois, Chicago
- Dr. Molly Martin, University of Illinois, Chicago
Opportunities
Undergraduate students who are interested in becoming research volunteers are encouraged to submit a cover letter and resume via email. Eligible students will be invited for an interview. If accepted, students must apply to become a volunteer throught the Clinical UCLA Health Sciences Volunteer Program at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine.
Residents and graduate students interested in research opportunities please contact Dr. Tran.