Danilo C. Ferraz

I am a postdoctoral associate in Drs. Letra and Silva’s laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh, where my research bridges clinical endodontics with molecular and translational studies of periapical disease. My training as a clinician-researcher allows me to apply specific knowledge related to periapical diseases. Over the past few years, I have gained expertise in both in vivo and in vitro approaches, including mice and rat models for apical periodontitis (AP) induction, subcutaneous material testing, cell culture models (mesenchymal and pulpal-periapical lineages), RNA and DNA extraction, and downstream molecular techniques. During my PhD, I studied the effects of cigarette smoke in animal models of AP, which led me to expand this research to include human data on these two globally prevalent conditions. Notably, my previous work demonstrated a synergistic effect of cigarette smoke and AP on the liver and lungs of rats (PMID: 39596079 and 40240867). Additionally, I have served as