Hyun (Michel) Koo, DDS, MS, PhD

Professional Biography

Dr. Koo is a dentist-scientist trained in food engineering, microbiology and cell biology, and an inventor with several US and international patents. He is a professor in the Department of Orthodontics and Divisions of Pediatric Dentistry and Community Oral Health at the School of Dental Medicine, and a professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Dr. Koo is the co-founder and co-director of the Center for Innovation & Precision Dentistry (CiPD), a multidisciplinary institute that bridges clinicians, scientists, and engineers to advance oral and craniofacial health through research, training, and entrepreneurship. He is also the program director of an NIDCR T90R90 training program at the interface of dental medicine, engineering, and computational sciences to study disease mechanisms, develop affordable therapies and precision diagnostics for susceptible populations. He co-invented new technologies and therapies, including the use of small-scale robotics for wireless plaque removal, anti-plaque chewing gum using plant chloroplast-derived biologics and nanozyme treatment for endodontic infection and dental caries in high-risk populations.

The laboratory of Dr. Koo focuses on understanding how biofilms form and cause oral diseases and seeking new therapeutic and diagnostic approaches by integrating engineering sciences. The Koo lab has employed multiscale imaging, biophysical and computational approaches to study oral biofilms, interkingdom (bacterial-fungal) interactions and the spatial structure of microbiomes. His group worked with natural products and their derivatives to control pathogenic oral biofilms. Using nanotechnology and small-scale robotics, he and his colleagues have developed catalytic antibiofilm nanoparticles for caries prevention and microrobots for wireless, automated plaque removal and diagnostics. He has published extensively in dental, microbiology, and multidisciplinary journals, e.g. ACS Nano, Advanced Materials, Biomaterials, Cell Host Microbe, Nature Communications, PNAS, Science, Science Robotics, Infect Immun, mBio, J Dent Res as well as in Nature Reviews and Cell Press Trends journals.

Dr. Koo is an elected AAAS fellow, the recipient of the IADR Distinguished Scientist and Innovation in Oral Care Awards, STAT nationwide finalist for Best Innovations in Science and Medicine, and Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher. He has served in several NIH/NIDCR panels, study sections and scientific committees as well as the IADR Hatton and Distinguished Scientist Awards selection committee. Dr. Koo has a career-long mentoring commitment. He has mentored multiple graduate and postdoctoral fellows, and most of them have obtained academic faculty or industry positions both in the US and abroad.

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Visit the CiPD webpage »

Visit the NIDCR T90R90 Dental-Engineering Postdoctoral Training Program »

Honors / Credentials

• Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher (2021, 2021, 2023)
• Honorary Skou Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Arhus University, Denmark (2022)
• Emerging Inventor of the Year, Penn Center for Innovation, University of Pennsylvania (2020)
• Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (2019)
• Penn Health-Tech Award for Small Scale Robotics, University of Pennsylvania (2019)
• IADR Distinguished Scientist Award – William H. Bowen Caries Research Award (2018)
• Penn Fellow, University of Pennsylvania (2016)
• IADR/GlaxoSmithKline Innovation in Oral Care Awards (2013)
• Honorary Professor, West China College of Stomatology, Sichuan University, China (2013)
• IADR Basil G. Bibby Young Investigator in Cariology Award (2007)
• Excellence in Research Incentives Program – University of Rochester Medical Center (2006)
• IADR/GlaxoSmithKline Innovation in Oral Care Awards (2006)
• IADR Distinguished Scientist Award – Young Investigator Award (2006)
• IADR/Colgate-Palmolive Research in Prevention Award (2001)
• The Basil G. Bibby Fellowship Award for Excellence in Oral Health Research (2001)
• Research highlighted in Nature, Science, Nature Reviews, Scientific American, Faculty of 1000, NIH Research Matters, NIDCR News, NIDCR 75^th Anniversary Highlights, AADOCR’s Strides in Science, TrailBlazers with Walter Isaacson Podcast, and the popular press

View Dr. Koo’s CV »

Selected Publications

Education

• Visiting Fellow in Cell & Developmental Biology, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, MD, 2011-2012
• Post-doctoral Fellow in Oral Biology & Microbiology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, 1999-2001
• Ph.D. in Oral Biology & Pathology, State University of Campinas, Brazil, and University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, 1996-1999
• M.S. in Food Engineering, The University of Campinas, Brazil, 1993-1996
• D.D.S., São Paulo State University, Brazil, 1989-19