Kuramitsu Elected Fellow in American Academy of Microbiology

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Howard Kuramitsu of East Amherst, University at Buffalo Distinguished Professor in the Department of Oral Biology in the University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine, has been elected a fellow in the American Academy of Microbiology.

The mission of the academy, an honorific leadership group within the American Society of Microbiology, is to recognize scientific excellence and foster knowledge and understanding of the microbiological sciences. Fellows are elected based on their records of outstanding contributions to microbiology, scientific achievements and leadership. Kuramitsu, who is one of only 1,800 scientists elected to fellowship status in the academy's almost 50-year history, was recognized for his work defining virulence factors of potentially pathogenic oral biology.

Kuramitsu, who holds a joint appointment in the Department of Microbiology in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, investigates the molecular basis for the pathogenicity of microorganisms involved in human dental caries and periodontal diseases. In his lab, he utilizes both biochemical and molecular genetic approaches to identify virulence factors expressed by Streptococcus mutans, the principal etiological agent of human dental caries, as well as by Porphyromonas gingivalis and Treponema denticola, two organisms implicated in periodontal diseases.

A member of the Center for Advanced Molecular Biology and Immunology (CAMBI) at UB, Kuramitsu and his colleagues have found that oral bacteria can exchange genes, raising the possibility that organisms in the oral cavity can be transformed from harmless to destructive, and from antibiotic-susceptible to antibiotic-resistant.

Kuramitsu joined the UB faculty in 1993 after serving on the faculty of the Northwestern University Medical School for more than 20 years. He earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry and a doctorate in biological chemistry, both from UCLA.