Giuseppe Intini, DDS, PhD

Born in Italy, Dr. Giuseppe (Beppe) Intini earned a degree in dentistry in 1995 from the University of L'Aquila (Italy). In 2000, he received a Master's degree in Oral Sciences from the University at Buffalo (NY), and in 2007 he received a PhD in Oral Biology and a certificate in clinical Periodontology from the University at Buffalo (NY). He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Periodontology. From 2007 to 2012 he was a postdoctoral fellow of Developmental Biology at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine in Boston (MA) and from 2012 to 2018 he has been an Assistant Professor of Oral Medicine, Infection, and Immunity at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine in Boston (MA). Dr. Intini is an Associate Professor of Periodontics and Preventive Dentistry at the University of Pittsburgh, School of Dental Medicine. In addition, he is a visiting faculty at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston (MA), a part-time lecturer at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine in Boston (MA), and a Principal Faculty member of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute in Cambridge (MA). He is associate editor of the Journal of Translational Medicine and of Frontiers in Physiology.  As a clinician/periodontist, Dr. Intini has interest in periodontal regeneration and bone augmentation procedures. The research in the Intini Lab focuses on skeletal stem cells and of bone cancer stem cells. Genetic strategies and in vivo imaging are utilized to describe the location and function of these cells and the molecular mechanisms that control their "stemness” in health and disease.

• Current skeletal stem cells research: The laboratory has identified the calvarial suture as the niche of osteoprogenitor cells expressing Prx1, a transcription factor highly expressed during embryonic development. Current research aims at taking advantage of the existence of these cells to develop novel strategies to foster craniofacial tissue regeneration. Additional projects focus on strategies to utilize Prx1 expressing cells for regeneration of other skeletal regions.
• Current bone cancer stem cells research: A federally funded project (NIH/NCI) focuses on the role of cancer stem cells in the development, maintenance, and metastasis of osteosarcoma. The final goal of this project is to identify novel strategies to prevent metastasis, the ultimate cause of death in children with osteosarcoma.