Find Faculty Members at MUSC.

Ozlem Yilmaz DDS, PhD

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Rank
  • Professor
College
  • College of Dental Medicine
Department
  • Department of Biomedical & Community Health Sciences
Academic Focus
  • Microbe-Host Interaction, Autophagy
  • Porphyromonas gingivalis, Bacterial Pathogenesis
  • Periodontal Diseases and Systemic Diseases Association
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Locations

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Biography

Dr. Yilmaz received her D.D.S. from Istanbul University in Istanbul, Turkey, and her Ph.D. in Oral Biology from the University of Washington, Seattle, where she also pursued post-doctoral work in the department of Global Health and was a visiting fellow in the Institut Pasteur, Paris, France. She was a faculty in Periodontology and Oral Biology and also an inaugural resident member of the Emerging Pathogens Institute at the University of Florida, Gainesville prior to joining the Departments of Oral Health Sciences and Microbiology and Immunology at MUSC.

Dr. Yilmaz combines her unique backgrounds in oral microbiology and epithelial cell biology to expand our insight at an important frontier of disease research, host-pathogen interaction. This is a particularly active area of research in the field of oral health, which stands at the gateway to gastrointestinal tract. The publications from her lab and others in the last decade have cultivated the growing awareness that periodontal disease and chronic oral mucosal infection may play a significant factor in the development of other chronic diseases, including orodigestive cancers and Alzheimer’s disease.

Her lab has a long-running interest in the pathogenic and immune-evasion mechanisms deployed by the opportunistic periodontal pathogens such as, Porphyromonas gingivalis. Their research efforts have included the pioneering development of imaging technologies for the assessment of anerobic bacterial invasion in situ, as well as detailed exploration of the microbial molecules and mechanisms involved in evading or blocking immune signaling, facilitating chronic intracellular bacterial colonization, modulating specific host autophagy, oxidative stress, inflammasome, and cell death pathways in a manner that predisposes the oral mucosal cells to the development of dysbiosis and oral cancer.

Currently, the Yilmaz lab has a particular focus on the role of pro-inflammatory nucleotide signaling pathways in the pathophysiology of P. gingivalis-related diseases.

Click Below for Dr. Yilmaz' Lab Website:

https://www.yilmazlab.co

Education

Ph.D., University of Washington

D.D.S., Istanbul University

 

Professional Experience

2021-2023: Chair (former Dept. Oral Health Sciences)

2016-pres:  Professor, Medical University of South Carolina

2016-pres:  Joint Professor (former Dept. Microbiology and Immunology; current                   

                    Pharmacology and Immunology)

2010–2015: Associate Professor, University of Florida, Periodontology and Oral Biology

2010-2015:  Resident Member of Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida

2006-2010:  Assistant Professor, University of Florida, Periodontology and Oral Biology

2002-2006:  Post-Doctoral Senior Fellow, University of Washington, School of Public 

                    Health & Community Medicine

2003:           Visiting Scholar, Biologie Moléculaire du Géne, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France

 

Honors and Professional Activities (Selected)

2023-pres:   Fellow, Pierre Fauchard Academy

2022:            Member, Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society 

2017-pres:   Overseas Fellow, The Royal Society of Medicine, England

2014-2015:   University of Florida Research Foundation Professor

2013-2019:   Member of NIH Oral, Dental and Craniofacial Diseases (ODCS) Study Panel

2013-2015:   Fellow, Academy of Research Excellence in Bioethics, Clinical Translational 

                      Institute University of Florida, College of Medicine

2012-pres:   Fellow, Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine

                     ELAM, Drexel College of Medicine, Drexel University   

2012-2024:   Academic Editor, PLOS ONE

2013-pres:   Associate Editor, Molecular Oral Microbiology

2015:            Guest Editor, Microbes and Infection 

                     Special Issue: Oral Pathogens and Microbiome in Health and Disease

2017-pres:    Associate Editor, Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology 

2018-pres:   Editorial board, Journal of Oral Microbiology

2018-2024:   Editorial Board, Scientific Reports

2018-2023:   Invited Guest Editor, mBio

2023-2026:   Editorial Board Member, Journal of Periodontology 

 

Main Research Interests

Dr. Yilmaz' research focuses on opportunistic bacteria and host interaction. Dr. Yilmaz' lab research is dedicated to discovering the complex molecular interplay between host and periodontopathic bacteria in the induction of microbial dysbiosis and pathophysiology in oral mucosa. Chronic infection by P. gingivalis, a major invasive bacterium, can specifically contribute to a series of severe chronic diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease and orodigestive cancers. Investigating the intracellular cellular persistence of this pathogen within host can lead to development of rational treatment strategies for P. gingivalis associated diseases.

 

Selected Publications

Sheridan, M., Chowdhury, N., Wellslager, B., Oleinik, N., Kassir, M.F., Lee, H.G., Engevik, M., Peterson, Y., Pandruvada, S., Szulc, Z.M., Yilmaz, O., Ogretmen, B. (2024). Opportunistic pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis targets the LC3B-ceramide complex and mediates lethal mitophagy resistance in oral tumors, iScience. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.109860.

 EurokAlert, June 18 2024, https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1048587 and featured, Interdisciplinary team maps role of P. gingivalis in drug resistance | MUSC Hollings Cancer Center.

 

 Patel S, Howard D, Chowdhury N, Derieux C, Wellslager B, Yilmaz O, and French L (2021). Characterization of human genes modulated by Porphyromonas gingivalis highlights the ribosome, hypothalamus, and cholinergic neurons, Frontiers in Immunology, 12:646259. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2021.646259

 

Lee, JS, Yilmaz, O (2020)Key Elements of Gingival Epithelial Homeostasis upon Bacterial Interaction”, Invited Review, Critical Reviews in Oral Biology & Medicine Section, J of Dental Res, Nov 17;22034520973012. doi: 10.1177/0022034520973012.

  

 Lee, JS, Chowdhury N, Roberts, JS, and Yilmaz O (2020). Host surface ectonucleotidase-CD73 and the opportunistic pathogen, Porphyromonas gingivalis, cross-modulation underlies a new homeostatic mechanism for chronic bacterial survival in human epithelial cells. Virulence. 11:414-429. doi.org/10.1080/21505594.2020.1763061.

 

 Lee J, Spooner R, Chowdhury N, Pandey V, Wellslager B, Atanasova K, Evans Z, Yilmaz O (2020). In Situ Intraepithelial Localizations of Opportunistic Pathogens, Porphyromonas gingivalis and Filifactor alocis, in Human Gingiva. Current Research in Microbial Sciences. 1, 7-17. 10.1016/j.crmicr.2020.05.001.

 

Olsen I and Yilmaz O (2019). Possible role of Porphyromonas gingivalis in orodigestive cancers. J Oral Microbiol. Jan 9;11(1):1563410. doi: 10.1080/20002297.2018.1563410. eCollection 2019.

 

Lee K, Roberts JS, Choi C, Atanasova KR, Yilmaz O (2018). Porphyromonas gingivalis Traffics into Endoplasmic Reticulum-Rich-Autophagosomes for Successful Survival in Human Gingival Epithelial Cells, Virulence  April 4:126.doi:10.1080/21505594.2018.1454171

 

Lee J, Roberts JS, Atanasova KR, Chowdhury N and Yilmaz O (2018). A Novel Kinase Function of a Nucleoside-diphosphate-kinase Homolog in P.  gingivalis is Critical in Subversion of Host Cell Apoptosis by Targeting Heat-Shock Protein 27,Cell Micro, Jan 22.doi:10.1111/cmi.12825