My research explores the intricate transcriptional regulatory forces that guide dental epithelial cells to commit to the ameloblast lineage—master architects of the hardest tissue in the human body. Once their enamel-secreting mission is complete, these cells undergo a remarkable transformation into junctional epithelial cells, forming a critical barrier that safeguards the health of the gingival sulcus.

Rebecca attended Medical School at the University Medical Center of the Johannes-Gutenberg University Mainz in Germany. She completed her Medical Doctoral Thesis through a joint project with the pediatric immunology and infectiology department at Mainz and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, focusing on the gut microbiome in children with inflammatory bowel disease.

Anke Hemmerling, MD PhD MPH, is an Associate Adjunct Professor in the UCSF Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, and the Director of the Interdisciplinary MPH Program in the UC Berkeley School of Public Health.

She received her medical and public health training at the Humboldt University in Berlin (Germany) and at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB). During her clinical training, she repeatedly worked in health projects and hospitals in Latin America.