Gibbs Laboratory

What we do

• The Gibbs lab utilizes basic science and clinical research approaches to understand endodontic disease, including bacterial mediated pulpal and periapical disease. They study clinical outcomes of endodontic treatment in children, including regenerative endodontic procedures. They also are interested in predictors of severe and persistent pain after endodontic surgery, and clinical interventions to mitigate post-operative pain.  Their group is also interested in understanding biomarkers of periapical and pulpal disease.
  
  Dr. Jennifer Gibbs heads a translational research group focused on understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of orofacial pain with a focus on the dental pain. She is a past Educator Fellow of the American Association of Endodontics Foundation and her research has been funded by the NIH/NIDCR, the AAE foundation, and other foundations.

Research focus

• The Gibbs Lab is focused on understanding how peripheral sensory neurons influence systems, with a focus on pain as an endpoint. We are particularly interested in characterizing the nociceptive populations innervating the pulp, and studying dental pulp injury models in mice. Using these models, we have demonstrated that pathological neuroplasticity occurs after dental pulp injury, and identified unique populations of sensory neurons innervating dental pulp based on their expression of TRP channels. 
  
  More recently our group has been working to understand how sensory neurons influence dental pulp stem cells by studying how neuropeptides, like CGRP, which are highly expressed in the dental pulp, influence dental pulp stem cells. We expect these findings that come out of this collaboration will fundamentally shift the understanding of how sensory afferents orchestrate mesenchymal stem cell activities within the pulp, influencing pulpal repair and regenerative processes. 

On-going projects

• Evaluating the Web as a Source of Information for Patients with Post-Endodontic Pain: An Analysis of Information Accuracy and Clarity