Dr. Laurent Bozec

I am the Bozec Lab group leader and a (tenured) Associate Professor at the Faculty of Dentistry, including a full member of the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Toronto.

After graduating in 2003 from a PhD in Applied Physics and Surface Sciences from Lancaster University (UK) under the guidance of Professor Hubert Pollock, I was recruited as a Post-Doctoral Researcher across the Faculty of Medicine and the London Center for Nanotechnology at University College London, where I developed the successful Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) platform technology.

Owing to my already significant experience in AFM, I was tasked to develop both a translational and fundamental research portfolio associated with collagen and nanometrology. This was just the beginning of my adventure in AFM and collagen (and a few bugs)!

Current positions

  • Associate Professor, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto
  • Full Member, School of Graduate Studies, University of Toronto
  • Course Director (Oral Health Seminar Series), Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto

Cross-appointments

  • Associate Research Staff, Mount Sinai Hospital (Toronto)
  • Full Graduate Faculty Member, Laboratory of Medicine and Pathology, University of Toronto
  • Honorary Associate Professor, Eastman Dental Institute, University College London
  • Honorary lecturer, Dental Institute, King’s College London

Recent positions 

  • 2015-2018 Head (vice-Dean) of Research, University College London Eastman Dental Institute
  • 2015-2018 Director (and founder), Centre for Postgraduate Research UCL Eastman Dental Institute
  • 2013-2018 Associate Professor, Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering. UCL Eastman Dental Institute

Random fact about Dr Bozec:

I have a passion for Cultural Heritage and anything that is (very) old – provided that the artifact contains sufficient collagen, such as the leather binding of Darwin’s Notebook or the head of Henri IV of France!

Current Group members

Ola Redha (PhD Candidate)

Thesis title: The impact of teeth whitening on tooth structureole – IVGS Student from UCL Eastman Dental Institute

Ola received her BDS excellent with honors from MUST University (Egypt) in 2002 before completing a MSc in Dental Science from Cairo university in 2009.

She then undertook an MClinDent prosthodontics with advanced training (Merit) at the Eastman Dental Institute, University College London in 2014.

In 2017, she decided to start of Ph.D. at the UCL Eastman Dental Institute and is currently  an International Visiting Graduate Student at the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, Canada.

Ola’s research aims to investigate the impact of commercial tooth whitening products on the long-term viability of dentine and dental pulp.

Ola is sponsored by the Army hospital, Ministry of Defense, Kuwait. 

Mina Vae (PhD Candidate)

Thesis title: Impact of non-reversible Crosslinking on the homeostatic modulation of collagen – Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto.

Mina received her BSc degree in material and science engineering from Iran University of Science and Technology in 2016 before completing a Master of Biomedical engineering with emphasis on Biomaterials from the University of Tehran in 2019.

For her MSc thesis project, she worked on a core-shell electrospun NO-releasing wound dressing for enhanced in vivo wound healing efficacy.

Mina’s research aims to investigate the relationship that exists between the biophysical properties of collagen fibrils and its crosslinks contents.

Mina is sponsored by the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto

Sophia Huang

Information coming soon

Michael Tiedemann

Information coming soon

Kester Ng (MSc Candidate)

Thesis title: Impact of gamma radiation on the structural properties of connective tissues– Faculty of Dentistry – University of Toronto.

Kester is a resident and MSc student in Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology at the University of Toronto.

Prior to specialty training, he completed his bachelor of health sciences from McMaster University (2013), his doctor of dental surgery at the University of Toronto (2017), and was in private practice in Northern Ontario.

Kester’s work aims to understand the effects of gamma radiation on the structural protein collagen and characterizing the changes that radiation induces, with the aim of understanding the mediating processes involved in tissue fibrosis.

Boris Godoy-Galvez

Information coming soon

Mitchell Dzaldov

Information coming soon

Associated Group Members

Yingqi Hou (Ph.D candidate)

Thesis title: Investigating surface properties affecting Streptococcus pneumoniae pathogenesis– Faculty: UCL Division of Medicine

Hesham Matabdin (Ph.D candidate)

Thesis title: The natural history of the dental pellicle and its relationship to dental erosion in elite sport – Faculty: UCL Eastman Dental Institute

Chloe Pearce (Ph.D candidate)

Thesis title: Optimisation of Environmental Control in Museum Collections of Bone and Ivory – Faculty: Birkbeck College – University of London

Michael Norman (Ph.D candidate)

Thesis title: Mechanobiology of Leukemic Bone Marrow – Faculty: King’s College London – Dental Institute               

Anna Maeva (Ph.D candidate) 

Thesis title: Effects of Intense Pulsed Light on the Structure of Collagen – Faculty: UCL Eastman Dental Institute                                   

Diana Ahmed (PhD candidate)

Thesis title: Development of functional bio-fuel cells – Faculty: UCL Physics