Programmdirektor

Dr. Dr. Wolf-Dieter Grimm, Senior Professor of Periodontology, Periodontology, School of Dental Medicine, Faculty of Health, Witten/Herdecke University, clinical periodontist, graduated from dentistry, St. Petersburg State University in 1968. Since 1992, he became the Chairman of Department of Periodontology, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Witten/Herdecke University, and the director of Dental clinics 1993-97. From 1997-2005, he worked in USA as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Periodontology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As PI and Professor of Periodontology he has decades of experience with the diagnostic and treatment of periodontal diseases. He has developed advanced course for post-graduate training in Periodontal Medicine (Postgraduate Curriculum of Periodontology) provided for dentists specializing in Clinical Periodontics since 2003. Prof. Grimm is Specialist^® of Periodontology (German Society of Periodontology/European Federation of Periodontology). Since 2006 he focused on Stem cells in Regenerative Medicine. In standardized animal model, he investigated stem cell-supported periodontal and alveolar bone regeneration in nude rat and in sheep. In general, my current stem cell research is focused on adult (somatic) stem cells and the regulation of their fundamental biological properties including differentiation, proliferation, and migration. We are further interested in the impact of pro- and anti-inflammatory signals on mesenchymal stem cells (progenitors of bone, fat and cartilage tissue) and neural crest-derived cells (progenitors of e.g. pigment cells and bones within the head region).