Associate Member of Staff
Dr. Sun is a material scientist by training. Approximately 20 years of his R & D experiences were primarily focused on fundamental and translational studies bringing the cutting-edge technologies into clinical applications. Currently, he is leading a multidisciplinary team and developing the next generation dental materials. His team has successfully prepared multifunctional, tougher and more durable dental resin composites comprised of enzymatically and hydrolytically stable ether-based resin networks, self-healing filler systems, and the pH-responsive antimicrobial additives. Prior to these, Dr. Sun has developed nanotechnologies for tissue engineering applications, e.g., realizing a complete control of initial cell contact on biocompatible materials, in terms of cell orientation, from randomly oriented to aligned in parallel. The knowledge learned from the above multidisciplinary projects allows him to work with experts in different research fields with confidence. As the Senior Project Leader at American Dental Association, Dr. Sun has successfully managed the incentive grant from ADA for many years. Also, as the PI of one NIDCR cooperative grant (U01 DE023752), he has led his team and completed this project with seven patents and 28 publications. Now, Dr. Sun is collaborating with Forsyth researcher Dr. Xuesong He to develop smart pH-responsive materials for caries prevention and treatment.
