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James Roger

Title	Senior Instructor
Institution	School of Medicine and Dentistry
Department	Dentistry in the Center for Oral Biology
Address	University of Rochester Medical Center School of Medicine and Dentistry 601 Elmwood Ave, Box 611 Rochester NY 14642

Awards And Honors

2005			Recipient of the Robert Burkhardt Memorial Scholarship \| Pennsylvania Academy of Stomatology
2006			Best Manuscript, Journal of Dental Education
2006	-	2007	Academic Dental Careers Fellowship Program Fellow \| ADEA
2006			1st Prize Dental Research Division, Poster Presentation \| Marquette University Research Day
2007			Dentsply/SCADA Student Clinician Research Program, Marquette representative at the ADA Annual Meeting
2007	-	2008	Sjögren's Syndrome Foundation Fellowship; "Autoantibody characterization in salivary gland B cells in primary Sjögren'
2008			2008 Volpe Prize for Periodontal Research, Finalist \| The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

Overview

B cells have been implicated as central players in the autoimmune diseases Sjögren's Syndrome (SS), Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), and Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). While it has been reported that B cells participate in both immune and autoimmune response through their traditional role of antibody (and auto-antibody) production--B cells are also known to participate, possibly pathologically, through antibody independent functions such as cytokine production and antigen presentation. It has long been reported that B cells are capable of cytokine production; B cells activated through the B cell Receptor (BCR) or Toll-Like Receptors (TLR) produce cytokines such as IL-10, IL-6 and TNFa. Preliminary data has shown that B cells produce a large and diverse array of cytokines in biologically significant quantities. Further data has shown that B cells can be induced to make pro-inflammatory cytokines (IFNg, IL-12p40, and TNFa) when stimulated by Th1 cells, or cytokines associated with allergic responses (IL-4) when stimulated by Th2 cells. This B / T cell communication indicates potentially complex effector roles when considering cytokine-producing B cells. In mice, IL-10 producing B cells seem to ameliorate symptoms of autoimmune diseases of RA and Inflammatory Bowel Disease. While the observation that B cells are capable of producing a variety of effector cytokines under differing stimulation conditions is tantalizing, a systematic approach to dissect the function of these cytokine producing B cells is necessary to elucidate their effector functions in both health and autoimmune disease. The immuno-modulatory effects of the cytokines produced and the hypothesis that cytokine-producing B cells contribute in both the healthy state as well as the autoimmune conditions of Sjögren's Syndrome, Lupus and Rheumatoid, through systemic inflammatory modulation and target-tissue influences are being evaluated.

Selected Publications

Barr PM, Wei C, Roger J, Schaefer-Cutillo J, Kelly JL, Rosenberg AF, Jung J, Sanz I, Friedberg JW. Syk inhibition with fostamatinib leads to transitional B lymphocyte depletion. Clin Immunol. 2012 Mar; 142(3):237-42.

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Rogér JM. The Academic Dental Careers Fellowship Program: a pilot program to introduce dental students to academia. J Dent Educ. 2008 Apr; 72(4):438-47.

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Rogér JM, Wehmeyer MM, Milliner MS. Reflections on academic careers by current dental school faculty. J Dent Educ. 2008 Apr; 72(4):448-57.

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Rogér JM, Javarone JA, Ealba EL, Markiewicz MR, Morlandt AB. The National Student Research Group of the AADR--an introduction. J Dent Res. 2007 May; 86(5):388-91.

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Rogér JM. A survey of dual-degree training opportunities at US dental schools. J Dent Educ. 2006 Sep; 70(9):909-17.

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