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Molecular medicine of salivary glands | Faculty of Dental Medicine

Molecular medicine of salivary glands

Prof. Palmon Aharon (DMD PhD)

almon Aharon

Our Lab is focused on two major topics:

1. Each year 500,000 new cases of head and neck cancer occur worldwide. The majority of these patients lose their salivary gland function following irradiation therapy. They suffer significant morbidities and their quality of life is greatly compromised. Unfortunately, to date, there is no satisfactory conventional treatment for their distress. We isolated salivary stem cells that were able to restore saliva production in head and neck irradiated animal models for future therapy of head and neck irradiated cancer patients.

2. Oral Fluids (OF, whole saliva) as a diagnostic fluid has many advantages over serum. OF are easy to collect, store and ship and can be obtained at low cost in sufficient quantities for analysis. For patients, the non-invasive collecting techniques dramatically reduce anxiety and discomfort and simplify procurement of repeated samples for longitudinal monitoring over time.  We developed technologies promoting the diagnostic value of Oral Fluids for both local and systemic diseases. These technologies served as the core IP of a new saliva based Startup Company licensed by Yissum. For details: http://salignostics.com

 

Publications

aharonp@ekmd.huji.ac.il