Dr Melissa Grant BSc, PhD, SFHEA

Dr Melissa Grant

School of Dentistry
Associate Professor

Contact details

Email
m.m.grant@bham.ac.uk
Address
The School of Dentistry
5 Mill Pool Way
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B5 7EG
United Kingdom

Dr Melissa Grant joined the University 麻豆精选 in 2011 as a Lecturer in the School of Dentistry.

She was promoted to Associate Professor in 2016.  She is joint lead for the Periodontal Research Group (PRG) and has a wide range of interests around the protein players associated with oral and systemic disease.

Qualifications

  • Senior Fellow Higher Education Academy, 2017

  • PhD Biochemistry, University 麻豆精选, 2001.

  • BSc (Hons) Biochemistry, University 麻豆精选, 1997.

Teaching

Mel contributes broadly in the School of Dentistry and across the University 麻豆精选 campus:

Postgraduate supervision

Dr Grant is interested in supervising doctoral research students in the areas of:

Saliva diagnostics, protein biomarkers, oral and systemic disease. Please get in touch if you have an interest in joining the team.

Research

Melissa Grant鈥檚 research centres the protein players associated with oral disease. She is interested in exploring novel panels of biomarkers to detect chronic inflammatory disease, such as periodontitis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, chronic kidney disease and lung disease; the structure and function of proteins in the mouth and in circulation under these various conditions; the detection of these proteins by point of care tests; and the production of these proteins in cell models are of particular interest.

Current PhD students are examining novel ways to detect protein biomarkers in saliva, discovery of biomarkers for oral blisters from different diseases, blister fluid composition from patients with epidemolysis bullosa and biomarkers for heart health in captive great apes.

Other activities

  • Director of Postgraduate Research, College of Medicine and Health, 2025 - onwards
  • Postgraduate Research Lead, School of Dentistry 2021 - 2024
  • Equality Diversity and Inclusion Lead, School of Dentistry 2011 - 2024
  • Deputy Programme Lead for Biomedical Materials Science, 2021 - 2023
  • Curator Open Wide Exhibition space, Birmingham Dental Hospital and School of Dentistry, 2017 onwards
  • Ambassador for Public Engagement, School of Dentistry, 2011 onwards
  • Birmingham Open Media Fellow 2014 - 2024

In relation to learned societies

  • Committee member for Oral Microbiology and Immunology Group (OMIG), part of the British Society for Oral and Dental Research from 2021 onwards
  • Committee member for Association of Science Educators in Dentistry (ASEID) from 2022 - 2024

Working with industry

  • Previous and ongoing industry collaborations include Mologic, Philips, Waltham Centre for Pet Science, Unilever

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Kaminska, M, Ka艂ucka, U, Babickova, J, Benedyk-Machaczka, M, Skandalou, E, Grant, MM, Marti, H-P & Mydel, P 2025, '', BMC Biology, vol. 23, 76.

Rakic, M, Calciolari, E, Grant, M, Radovanovic, S, Bostanci, N & Preshaw, PM 2025, '', Journal of Clinical Periodontology.

Balacco, D, Bardhan, A, Ibrahim, H, Kuehne, S, Grant, M, Hirschfeld, J, Heagerty, A & Chapple, I 2025, '', Frontiers In Microbiomes, vol. 4.

Virdee, S, Bashir, N, Grant, M, Cooper, PR & Tomson, P 2025, '', International Endodontic Journal.

Muchov谩, M, Kuehne, S, Grant, M, Chapple, I & Hirschfeld, J 2024, '', Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology, vol. 14, 1449539.

Virdee, SS, Bashir, NZ, Krstic, M, Camilleri, J, Grant, MM, Cooper, PR & Tomson, PL 2023, '', International Endodontic Journal.

Grant, M, Scott, AE, Matthews, J, Griffiths, HR & Chapple, I 2023, '', Journal of Periodontal Research.

Badlishah Sham, NIB & Grant, M 2023, '', Oral, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 526-538.

Shepherd, FR, Davies, K, Miners, KL, Llewellyn-Lacey, S, Kollnberger, S, Redman, JE, Jenkins, RL, Grant, M, Ladell, K, Price, DA & McLaren, JE 2023, '', Communications Biology, vol. 6, no. 1, 78.

Grant, M, Pasha, S, Inui, T, Chapple, I, Harris, S & Holcombe, L 2022, '', Journal of Veterinary Dentistry, vol. 39, no. 3, pp. 241-249.

Virdee, S, Oglah Albaaj, FS, Camilleri, J, Grant, M, Walmsley, D, Cooper, P & Tomson, P 2022, '', The European journal of prosthodontics and restorative dentistry.

Grant, M, Taylor, JJ, Creese, A, Gowland, C, Burke, B, Doudin, K, Patel, U, Weston, P, Milward, M, Bissett, SM, Cooper, H, Kooijman, G, Rmaile, A, de Jager, M, Preshaw, PM & Chapple, I 2022, '', Journal of Clinical Periodontology, vol. 49, no. 7, pp. 622-632.

Muchov谩, M, Balacco, D, Grant, M, Chapple, I, Kuehne, S & Hirschfeld, J 2022, '', Frontiers in Oral Health, vol. 3, 853618.

Editorial

Taba, M & Grant, MM 2024, '', Frontiers in Dental Medicine, vol. 5, 1429305.

Preprint

Irving, OJ, Matthews, L, Coulthard, S, Neely, RK, Grant, MM & Albrecht, T 2023 '' bioRxiv.

Expertise

Periodontal Diseases