Catera Wilder, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences at the University of California San Francisco and Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator. She received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University (2016) under the direction of Manu Platt. As a UCLA Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the lab of Alexander Hoffmann (2016-2022) she focused on understanding innate immune and inflammatory responses by studying ISGF3 transcription factor dynamic regulation using a systems biology approach.

Bryan J. Winn, MD, is a Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at UCSF and Chief of Ophthalmology at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He is board-certified in Ophthalmology and a fellow of the American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (ASOPRS), specializing in the medical and surgical management of eyelid, lacrimal, and orbital disorders, as well as aesthetic rejuvenation of the face.

Dr. Karin Wu is Assistant Professor of Medicine at UCSF and Staff Physician at the San Francisco VA Health Care System. She is board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in the subspecialty of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism. Her work centers on improving care for patients with osteoporosis and metabolic bone disease. Her research uses both clinical and translational methods to understand the interactions between nutrition, the gut microbiome, and skeletal health, and to create new approaches for fracture prevention.

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.