Yr Athro Alastair J Sloan

Alastair Sloan is the Head of School in the School of Dentistry and began his tenure in this role in August 2017. He holds a substantive post as Professor of Bone Biology and Tissue Engineering in the School of Dentistry and is a member of the Cardiff Institute for Tissue Engineering and Repair (CITER) at Cardiff University. Alongside his role as Head of School, he co-leads the MIneralised Tissue Research Group.

He obtained his BSc in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Wales in 1993 and his PhD in Oral Cell Biology from The University of Birmingham, UK in 1997 in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry. Following postdoctoral research he was appointed to a Lectureship in Oral Biology at the School of Dentistry in The University of Birmingham in 2000. In 2005, he moved to the School of Dentistry and was awarded his personal chair in 2012. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Professor Sloan's research is multi-disciplinary and focussed on the repair and regeneration of mineralised tissues and the behaviour and therapeutic use of dental pulp stem cells. He is interested in the cellular and molecular responses of these cells to natural biomatrices and compromised biological environments to understand their functional behaviour during tissue injury and developing methods to mediate natural repair processes in bone trauma. Complimentary to this work, he is also interested in understanding the heterogeneity within dental pulp progenitor populations and their function in 3D environments.   His research is also focussed on understanding bacterial invasion and attachment in dental and bone infections and development of novel delivery mechanisms for antimicrobial agents to control infection within these tissues. In support of these studies, he has significant interest in the development of 3D organotypic culture models to provide high throughput model systems with high reproducibiilty and address the 3Rs in this field of bioengineering.

With a background in biosciences and oral biology, Professor Sloan has teaching responsibilities on the BDS programme where he contributes to the Oral Ecosystems course (year 2). In addition he teaches on the MSc Tissue Engineering and MClinDent programmes and also will be contributing to the new MSc Oral Biology programme.

Professor Sloan is the recipient of several awards and honours. In 1998 he was awarded the IADR, British Division's Mineralised Tissue Research Prize and several of his students have won national research prizes including the IADR British Division Mineralised Tissue Prize in 2008, 2013, 2014, the British Division Unilever Poster Prize in 2012 and the TCES Poster Prize in 2014. Professor Sloan was the President of the Pulp Biology and Regeneration Group of the IADR in 2010-2011. In 2011 he was awarded the IADR Distinguished Scientist Award, the Young Investigators Award, in recognition of his research to date. He holds a Visiting Chair at the Fourth Military Medical University in Xi'an, China since 2013, Dalian Medical University since 2015 and China Medical University since 2016.

From 2015-2017 Professor Sloan was Chair of the Cardiff Insitute for Tissue Engineering and Repair (CITER). He currently sits on the Management Committee of the British Society for Oral and Dental Research (BSODR), the Executive Committee of the Tissue and Cell Engineering Society (UK) and the Grant Assessment Panel of the NC3Rs. He acts a reviewer for all RCUK funding bodies and the EU. He has attracted research funding from the NC3Rs, Health and Care Research Wales, MRC, EPSRC, Dr Hadwen Trust and Dunhill Medical Research Trust along with those from the industrial sector (Philips, Renishaw plc). He has been an active member of the Cardiff Institute for Tissue Engineering and Repair (CITER) since 2005 and was Chair of CITER from 2015 - 2017.

Education / Qualifications
1993 - BSc (Hons) Biomedical Sciences (Wales)
1997 - PhD (Bham)
2003 - PGCert Teaching in Higher Education (Bham)

Anrhydeddau a Dyfarniadau

1998 - British Society for Oral and Dental Research (BSODR) MIneralised Tissue Prize

2011 - IADR Distinguished Scientist Award, Young Investigators Award

Aelodaethau proffesiynol

Higher Education Academy
International Association for Dental Research (IADR)
British Society for Oral and Dental Research (BSODR)
Tissue and Cell Engineering Society (TCES)
Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS)
International Sociery for the Advancement of Cytometry (IASC)

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University Committees

• Cardiff University Senate
• College Board (College of Biomedical and Life Sciences)
• Biological Standards Committee

External Committees

• Management Committee of the British Society for Oral and Dental Research (BSODR)
• Management Committee of the Tissue and Cell Engineering Society (TCES)
• Committee Member, Association of Basic Science Teachers in Dentistry (ABSTD)
• NC3Rs Grant Assessment Panel

BDS: Oral Ecosystems (Dental Anatomy, Oral Physiology, Developmental Biology, and Oral and Craniofacial biology).

MSc Tissue Engineering (Stem Cell Biology and Bioengineering)

MSc Oral Biology (Cell and Tissue Structure/Histology, Mineralised Tissue Biology, Stem Cell Biology)

Recent Grants

Philips - Development of an epithelial tissue culture model to assess direct Contact of H2O2 and light on cell responses. AJ Sloan (PI), RJ Waddington, WN Ayre. 2017-2018; £120,471

Research Network Wales Life Sciences Bridging Fund - Towards the Commercialization of Dual Action Mucoadhesive Patches to Treat Periodontal Diseases. C Heard, AJ Sloan. 2017-2018; £75,000

Philips – Effect of light activated peroxide agents on gingival tissue. RJ Waddington, AJ Sloan, WN Ayre. 2016-2017; £75,000

Philips - Effect of staining on Dental Tissue and Direct Contact of H202 on dental pulp cells. AJ Sloan (PI), RJ Waddington, WN Ayre. 2016-2017; £114,536

Dunhill Medical Research Trust - Preventing aseptic loosening of cemented joint replacements in older adults: delivery of osteogenic molecules from PMMA bone cement to encourage bone repair and implant osseointegration. AJ Sloan (PI), W Ayre, RJ Waddington, D Mason, B Evans, S Evans, SP Denyer, S Evans, RM Jones 2016-2017; £84,104

MRC P2D – Bioactive materials to manage dental tissue regeneration. W Ayre, AJ Sloan, RJ Waddington, CD Lynch, S Evans. 2016; £20,000

MRC CiC – Delivery of Antimicrobials from dental cements for Dental Tissue Repair. AJ Sloan (PI), JY Maillard, RJ Waddington, CD Lynch. 2016; £50,000

Renishaw Ltd – Antimicrobial coatings of implantable devices. AJ Sloan (PI), RJ Waddington, WN Ayre, Q Jones. 2015-2018; £50,000

Philips – Effect of novel antimicrobial agent on oral epithelial tissues. RJ Waddington, AJ Sloan, W Ayre. 2015-2015; £25,000

Petplan Charitable Trust - Development of novel in vitro models to investigate the role of pathogens in the aetiology of feline chronic gingivostomatitis and test therapeutic interventions. MP Riggio (Glasgow), D Bennett (Glasgow), DF Lapping (Glasgow), C Nile (Glasgow), AJ Sloan, SP Denyer (Brighton). 2015-2018; £89942

Philips – Effect of whitening agents on dental pulp functional behaviour AJ Sloan (PI), RJ Waddington, J Rees. 2015-2016; £105,785

Philips – Effect of ultrasound mediated CPC on 3D oral mucosa tissue cultures. RJ Waddington, AJ Sloan, W Ayre. 2014-2015; £27,000

UKRMP Partnership Award– Novel Bioactive Delivery Materials for Mineralised Tissue Repair. AJ Sloan (PI), RJ Waddington, S Evans. 2015; £50,000

NISCHR – Novel Antimicrobial Restorative Materials to Manage Dental Disease. AJ Sloan (PI), A Paul (CHEMY), RJ Waddington. 2014-2017; £66,000

Current Projects

Novel Antimicrobial Restorative Materials to Manage Dental Disease

Delivery of osteogenic molecules ffor  bone repair and implant osseointegration

Antimicrobial coatings of implantable devices

Understanding heterogeneity of dental pulp progenitor cells through lineage tacking and biophotonic labelling

Effect of whitening agents on dental pulp functional behaviour

Dental material directed tissue regeneration

Ex vivo modelling of antimicrobial measures in pulpal disease

Ex vivo modelling of bone regeneration

Goruchwyliaeth gyfredol

Jabur Khan

Research student

Vildan Celiksoy

Research student