Dr. Mariana Bezamat is a dentist by training and earned her DDS degree and certificate in pediatric dentistry from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and a certificate in endodontics from the Pontifical Catholic University, Brazil. In 2012, Dr. Bezamat received the Science without Borders Award from the Brazilian federal government. She joined the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine in 2017 as a graduate student and earned her PhD in Oral and Craniofacial Sciences in 2021. Before her graduation, she received a fellowship award from the Clinical and Translational Science Institute and continued working as a TL1 postdoctoral fellow with appointments in both the School of Medicine and the School of Dental Medicine.
Dr. Bezamat’s projects focus on defining oral disease patterns that are associated with specific genomic and phenomic profiles. She is interested in the field of phenomics, an area of biology concerned with the measurement of phenomes, a set of physical and biochemical traits belonging to a given organism as they change in response to genetic mutation and environmental influences. Her studies focus on how oral health phenotypes and overall health comorbidities of individuals diagnosed with cancer are affected by genetic variation.
Dr. Bezamat is a member of the American Association of Dental Research (AADR) and the International Association of Dental Research (IADR). She leads a team of editors for the Dentistry 3000 journal and is a peer reviewer for scientific journals such as the Clinical Oral Investigation journal, the Journal of Dental Research Clinical & Translational Research, and the Orthodontics and Craniofacial Research Journal.
- Küchler EC, Deeley K, Ho B, Linkowski S, Meyer C, Noel J, Kouzbari MZ, Bezamat M, Granjeiro JM, Antunes LS, Antunes LA, de Abreu FV, Costa MC, Tannure PN, Seymen F, Koruyucu M, Patir A, Mereb JC, Poletta FA, Castilla EE, Orioli IM, Marazita ML, Vieira AR. Genetic mapping of high caries experience on human chromosome 13. BMC Med Genet. 2013 Nov 5; 14:116. doi: 10.1186/1471-2350-14-116.
- Küchler EC, Feng P, Deeley K, Fitzgerald CA, Meyer C, Gorbunov A, Bezamat M, Reis MF, Noel J, Kouzbari MZ, Granjeiro JM, Antunes LS, Antunes LA, de Abreu FV, Costa MC, Tannure PN, Seymen F, Koruyucu M, Patir A, Vieira AR. Fine mapping of locus Xq25.1-27-2 for a low caries experience phenotype. Arch Oral Biol. 2014 May;59(5):479-86. doi: 10.1016.
- Bussaneli, D, Restrepo, M, Bezamat, M, Fragelli, C, Jeremias, F, Santos-Pinto, L, Cordeiro, R, Vieira AR, Scarel-Caminanga, R. Genes Regulating Immune Response and Amelogenesis Interact in Increasing the Susceptibility to Molar-Incisor Hypomineralization. Caries Research 2018 Aug 21;53(2):217-227. doi: 10.1159/000491644.
- Bezamat, M, Deeley, K, Khaliq, S, Letra, A, Scariot, R, Silva, RM, Weber, ML, Bussaneli, DG, Trevilatto, PC, Almarza, AJ, Ouyang, H, Vieira, AR. Are mTOR and ER stress pathway genes associated with oral and bone diseases? Caries Research 2018 Sep 11;53(3):235-241. doi: 10.1159/000492675.
- Telles V, Bezamat M, Vieira AR. An Argument Against Extraction as a Treatment Alternative of Restorable Teeth. Compend Contin Educ Dent. 2019 Jun;40(6):342-345; quiz 346.
- Tulek A, Vieira AR, Weber ML, Bezamat M, Deeley K, Stenhagen KR, Sehic A, Søvik JB and Mulic A. Aquaporins` Influence on Different Dental Erosive Wear Phenotypes in Humans. Caries Res. 2020 Feb 11:1-11. doi: 10.1159/000505965.
- Bezamat M, Cunha EJ, Modesto AM, Vieira AR, Taboas JM. Aquaporin locus (12q13.12) might contribute to susceptibility of temporomandibular joint disorder associated with periodontitis. PLoS One. 2020 Mar 4;15(3): e0229245. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0229245. eCollection 2020.
- Bezamat M, Harrison B, Zhou Y, Glickman KM, Telles V, Guirguis C, Modesto A, Vieira AR. Phenome-Wide Scan Finds Potential Orofacial Risk Markers for Cancer. Sci Rep. 2020 Mar 17;10(1):4869. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-61654-3.
- Cavalcante BGN, Lacerda RHW, Assis IO, Bezamat M, Modesto A, Vieira AR. Talon Cusp Associates with MMP2 in a Cohort of Individuals Born with Oral Clefts. Cleft Palate Craniofac J. 2020 Sep 16:1055665620958569. doi: 10.1177/1055665620958569. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 32935555.
- Silva EMVM, Lacerda RHW, Farias IL, Cavalcante BGN, Assis IO, Bezamat M, Modesto A, Vieira AR. COMT rs4818, pain sensitivity and duration, and alveolar bone grafting of oral clefts. Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2020 Sep 29. doi: 10.1007/s10006-020-00912-0.
- Assis IO, Lacerda RHW, Cavalcante BGN, Bezamat M, Modesto A, Vieira AR. IRE1 Less Common Homozygous Genotype in Families with Positive History of Cancer and Individuals Born with Cleft Lip/Palate. J Craniofac Surg. 2020 Nov 10. doi: 10.1097/SCS.0000000000007169.
- Kelly AM, Bezamat M, Modesto A, Vieira AR. Biomarkers for lifetime caries-free status. J Pers Med. 2021. doi: 10.3390/jpm11010023.
- Bezamat M, Souza JF, Silva FMF, Corrêa EG, Fatturi AL, Brancher JA, Carvalho FM, Cavallari T, Bertolazo L, Machado-Souza C, Koruyucu M, Bayram M, Racic A, Harrison BM, Sweat YY, Letra A, Studen-Pavlovich D, Seymen F, Amendt B, Werneck RI, Costa MC, Modesto A, Vieira AR. Gene-environment interaction in molar-incisor hypomineralization. PLoS One. 2021 Jan 6;16(1):e0241898. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241898. PMID: 33406080; PMCID: PMC7787379.
- Bezamat M, Modesto A, Vieira AR. Phenome-Wide Association Study with Focus on Oral Health Disparities and Individuals Who Did Not Have Cancer. Front Dent Med. 2021 Apr 28. doi: 10.3389/fdmed.2021.641246.
- Bezamat M, Zhou Y, Park T, Vieira AR. Genome-wide family-based study in torus palatinus affected individuals. Arch Oral Biol. 2021 July 30;130:105221. doi: 10.1016/j.archoralbio.2021.105221. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34352448.
- Nascimento BL, Vieira AR, Bezamat M, Ignácio SA, Souza EM. Occlusal problems, mental health issues and non-carious cervical lesions. Odontology. 2021 Sep 27. doi: 10.1007/s10266-021-00658-5. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34568988.
Dr. Bezamat's research interests include genetics, phenomics, translational science, cancer, dental caries, periodontal disease, and molar-incisor hypomineralization.