Oral Mucosal Immunity Consortium

OMIC News

Uttamani named 2023 Windsweep Farm OMIC Scholar Juhi R. Uttamani, DDS, PhD, has been selected as the second Windsweep Farm Oral Mucosal Immunity Consortium (OMIC) Scholar. She has a Certificate of Specialty-Advanced Postgraduate Periodontics and a PhD from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and she is currently Assistant Professor at the University of Iowa. This award comes with a $50,000 grant to support her pilot project entitled “Deciphering the Role of miRNAs in Peri-implantitis Pathogenesis."

Stolley and Masopust receive OMIC Windsweep Farm Pilot Grant Drs. J. Michael Stolley and David Masopust, co-principal investigators from the University of Minnesota, received the 2021 OMIC Windsweep Farm Pilot Grant for their project, "Resident Memory T Cells in the Oral Mucosa."

Stolley publishes in Journal of Experimental Medicine The following research project was partly funded by OMIC as Dr. Stolley was the OMIC Scholar: Stolley JM, Scott MC, Joag V, Dale AJ, Johnston TS, Saavedra F, Gavil NV, Lotfi-Emran S, Soerens AG, Weyu E, Pierson MJ, Herzberg MC, Zhang N, Vezys V, Masopust D. Depleting CD103+ resident memory T cells in vivo reveals immunostimulatory functions in oral mucosa. J Exp Med. 2023 Jul 3;220(7).

Our Mission

The mission of the Oral Mucosal Immunity Consortium (OMIC) is the study of the oral immune cell response to microbial and carcinogenic stimuli introduced into the oral cavity and to generate quality research advancing knowledge in the field of oral mucosal immunology. Specific research endeavors include but are not limited to immune response to pathogens and carcinogenic agents, periodontal regeneration, oral mucosal wound healing and cell signaling pathways.

The OMIC represents a multi-center collaboration of clinical and basic science researchers with a goal of sharing knowledge and ideas to better understand how the oral mucosal systems function when healthy and in the presence of disease. 

OMIC Faculty Members

• University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry and University of Nebraska–Lincoln
• University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and National Jewish Health
• University of Minnesota–Twin Cities
• University of Iowa–Iowa City

OMIC Annual Symposium

The 4th Annual OMIC Symposium will be held on Monday, September 23, 2024. More details coming soon.

The 3rd Annual Oral Mucosal Immunity Consortium (OMIC) Symposium was held on Monday, October 23, 2023 at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry.

The keynote speaker, Martin Prlic, PhD, Fred Hutchison Cancer Center, University of Washington, presented "Single Cell Analysis of the Immune Response in the Inflamed Human Oral Mucosa."

The 2021, 2022 Windsweep Farm Scholar, Michael Stolley, PhD, University of Minnesota, Cleveland Clinic, presented “Triggering Mouth-resident Antiviral T Cells Intensifies Experimental Periodontitis.”

The 2023 Windsweep Farm Scholar, Juhiraju Uttamani, BDS, PhD, University of Iowa, presented “Exploration of Novel Host Responsive Therapeutic Approaches in Peri-implantitis.”

The 2023 Orban Competition winner, Paula C. Schlemmer, DMD, University of Nebraska Medical Center, presented "The Impact of Aging on Fibroblast Gene Expression in Post-Extraction Wound Healing."

OMIC Journal Club

The OMIC Journal Club meets once monthly via Zoom for a one hour paper presentation and informal but enlightening discussion. For more information, contact Dr. Amy Killeen at akilleen@unmc.edu.

Travel Awards

• Travel awards of $500 are awarded to graduate students, postdocs, fellows or research scientists to encourage their attendance at the annual OMIC symposium.
• Awards are based on merit and awardees are required to present (oral presentation and/or poster) at the annual symposium.
• Awardees must be active participants in the OMIC consortium.