Charles Sfeir

University of Pittsburgh
School of Dental Medicine
Department of Oral Biology
552 Salk Hall, 3501 Terrace Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15261
e-mail: csfeir@pitt.edu
 
A. Professional Preparation
Universite Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France   Dental Medicine             D.D.S./1990
Northwestern University, Chicago, IL           Periodontal Residency       Certificate/1995
Northwestern University, Chicago, IL           Molecular Biology              Ph.D./1996           
 
B. Appointments
 
2007 – Present   Associate Professor, Departments of Oral Biology; Periodontology; Biomedical Engineering; and McGowan Institute of Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
2005 – Present   Director, Center for Craniofacial Regeneration, University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine
2000-2007         Assistant Professor, School of Dental Medicine, University of Pittsburgh
 Adjunct Assistant Professor, Biomedical Health Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering departments, Carnegie Mellon University.
1999 - 2000       Assistant Professor, Department of Periodontology and Oral Molecular Biology, Oregon Health Sciences University.
1996 - 1998       Post- doctoral fellow, Division of Oral Biology, Northwestern University.
 
C. Publications
 
1.      Li, J.; Olton, D. ; Lee, D. ; Kumta, P.N. ;  Sfeir, C. Cell Derived Hierarchical Assembly of a Novel Phosphophoryn-Based Biomaterial. Cells Tissues Organs (DOI:10.1159/000158571)  Published Online: September 25, 2008
2.      Ko, H.-F., Sfeir, C. and Kumta, P.N.. In situ synthesis and characterization of porous polymer-ceramic composites as scaffolds for gene delivery – Journal of Materials Science and Engineering C, 27:479 – 483, 2007
3.      Olton, D., Li, J., Wilson, M.B., Rogers, T., Close, .J, Huang, L., Kumta, P.N., and Sfeir, C.. Influence of the Synthesis Parameters on the Transfection Efficiency of Nanostructured Calcium Phosphates (NanoCaPs) for Non-Viral Gene Delivery. Biomaterials 28(6):1267-1279, 2007 [Epub Nov 21, 2006]
4.      Jadlowiec, JA, Zhang, X, Li, J, Campbell, PG, and Sfeir, C. Extracellular Matrix-mediated Signaling by Dentin Phosphophoryn Involves Activation of the Smad Pathway Independent of Bone Morphogenetic Protein. J Biol Chem. 281:5341 – 5347, 2006
5.      Kumta, PN, Sfeir C, Lee DH, Olton D, Choi D. Nanostructured Calcium Phosphates for Biomedical Applications: Novel Synthesis and Characterization, Acta Biomaterialia 1:65-83-2005.
6.      Jadlowiec J, Koch H, Zhang X, Campbell PG, Seyedain M, Sfeir C. Phosphophoryn regulates the gene expression and differentiation of NIH3T3, MC3T3-E1 and human mesenchymal stem cells via integrin/MAPK signaling pathway. J Biol Chem. 279:53323-53330, 2004.
7.      Narayan RJ, Kumta PN, Sfeir C, Lee D, Olton and Choi D. Nanostructured Ceramics in Medical Devices: Applications and Prospects. Journal of Metals 56(10):38-43, 2004
8.      Pola E, Gao W, Zhou Y, Pola R, Lattanzi W, Sfeir C, Gambotto A, and Robbins PD Efficient Bone Formation by Gene Transfer of Codon Optimized Human LIM Mineralization Protein-3. Gene Therapy 11:683-693, 2004.
9.      Thomas CH, Collier J, Sfeir C and Healy K. Engineering Gene Expression and Protein Synthesis by Modulation of Nuclear Shape. Proc Natl Acad Sci, 4:1972-1977, 2002.
10. Azari K., Doll B.A., Sfeir C., Mu Y., Hollinger J.O.: A Review of Therapeutic Potential of Bone Morphogenetic Proteins. Expert Opin. Investig. Drugs (2001) 10(9) 1677-1686
 
D. Synergistic Activities
Charles Sfeir’s laboratory focuses on optimizing gene delivery using non-viral technology and understanding the biology of the biomineralization process. The thrust of the research is to use polymer/composite materials to enhance gene delivery and proteomics to study post-translational modifications to understand biomineralization. These approaches require a multidisciplinary team that provided a great learning environment for everybody involved. In addition, Dr. Sfeir teaches in the Dental clinic at the University of Pittsburgh Dental School and oversees clinical procedures. This interaction with the residents/students allows him to emphasize the role of evidence based clinical practice and the importance of transitioning technologies developed in the laboratory to help patients and provide a better therapy.
 
E. Other Collaborators & Other Affiliations

Collaborators
Prashant Kumta (University of Pittsburgh); Mark Schultz, Shanov Vesselin (University of Cincinnati); Jagannathan Sankar, Sergey Yarmolenko (North Carolina A&T State University); Kevin Healy (University of California at Berkeley); Adele Boskey (Cornell University); Tom Hart (National Institute of Health); Arthur Veis (Northwestern University); Paul Robbins, Alan Russell (University of Pittsburgh)

Graduate Advisors
Doctoral Advisor: Arthur Veis, Northwestern University
 
 
Thesis Advisor and Postgraduate-Scholar Sponsor (of a total of 6 PhDs, 5 Masters)
Yuanyuan Duan, Pang-ning Teng, Fatima Syed-Picard, Julie Jadlowiec (University of Pittsburgh), Dana Olton (BD), Donghyun Lee, Hsu-Feng Ko (Carnegie Mellon University); Dasha Elizian D.D.S. (Harvard University); Brian King (University of Pittsburgh), Rosie Brender D.D.S. (Private practice-Puerto Rico); Edward Lin D.D.S. (Private practice – IL)