Gulati’s group for Anodized Therapies for Osseointegration, Regeneration and Stimulation (GATORs)

Our vision is to revolutionize dental implant technology by creating the next generation of implants capable of providing maximum local therapeutic action to drastically reduce implant failures.

Research focus

Nano-engineering of dental implants to enable local drug release and enhanced bioactivity, targeting dental implant failure associated with ongoing conditions (osteoporosis, diabetes, aged patients and smokers). Electrochemical anodization will be used to impart nanotopography to conventional dental implants to augment osseo- and soft-tissue integration, immunomodulation and antibacterial functions via tailored local therapies.

Group members

Name	Expertise	Contract/PhD Progress
Dr. Karan Gulati	Nano-engineering, anodization, 3D cell culture	Until Dec 2024
Tianqi Guo	Soft-tissue integration, surface characterization	2^nd year PhD
Anjana Jayasree	Triggered therapies, microbiology, cell biology	1^st year PhD

Function within centre

Dr Gulati has over 10 years of experience working with nano-engineered dental implants, and to-date have secured over 600,000 $ in research funding majorly as CI-A. Dr Gulati’s GATORs group aligns well with the vision of COR3 group: novel dental solutions towards regeneration, reconstruction and rehabilitation. The technologies and strategies employed in GATORs group are cost-effective and scalable, ensuring clinical translation.

Facilities available

Dr Gulati has successfully established four state-of-the-art anodization suites (acquired from his own funding) within the School of Dentistry at UQ, which enables multiple users to simultaneously perform surface modification of dental implants. GATORs group members have access to Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis (CMM) at UQ St Lucia to perform various chemical/topographical characterizations of the modified implants. The students are well trained on various instruments, and their usage is already managed and paid by Dr Gulati’s grants.