Simon Young
Associate Professor
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
School of Dentistry
Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery
Dr. Young’s research efforts include the synthesis and characterization of implantable biomaterials designed to elicit in situ cell recruitment and programming. His work includes the use of materials able to simultaneously deliver multiple bioactive factors with distinct release profiles. These constructs have been used in a diverse set of applications such as the promotion of craniofacial bone regeneration and cancer immunotherapy. He has broad experience in the fields of polymer synthesis and characterization, growth factor delivery, in vivo models, characterization of bone and neovascularization, cancer immunotherapy, and implantable therapeutic cancer vaccines. In addition, Dr. Young is a board-certified oral & maxillofacial surgeon with significant experience in the treatment and reconstruction of craniomaxillofacial trauma and pathology.
Along with collaborators at Rice University and UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, the focus of his current research is to develop novel material-based immunotherapies for the treatment of head and neck cancer and explore mechanisms of how this approach may synergize with other modalities of treatment such as chemo/radiation therapy. A separate project is also exploring the use of biomaterial-enhanced living cytokine factories to eliminate residual cancer cells following tumor resection.
The paradigm of in situ cell programming using biomaterials is also being utilized in a separate tissue engineering research project in collaboration with the University of Texas Arlington, exploring the use of semiconductor-based coatings to enhance craniofacial bone regeneration.
Graduate students working on these projects will gain broad experience in techniques for evaluating the in vivo effectiveness of immunotherapies (flow cytometry, multiplex immunohistochemistry, spatial transcriptomics) and bone engineering constructs (histomorphometry, micro-computed tomography, MRI), and the use of preclinical rodent and rabbit models for both cancer and tissue regeneration research.
Education & Training
D.D.S - University of Toronto - 2003
Ph.D. - Rice University - 2008
M.D. - The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston - 2011