Back To Search Results

Dr Ethiraj Lalith Prabha

BDS
MDS (Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery) (Singapore)
PhD (Singapore)

Research Fellow

National Dental Centre Singapore

Clinical Appointments

Specialist Department of Oral ＆ Maxillofacial Surgery National Dental Centre Singapore

Profile

Dr Lalith received her Master of Dental Surgery (Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery) from the National University of Singapore in 2013. This was followed by her employment at the National Dental Centre Singapore as a Registrar in the Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery. She received her Dental Specialist Accreditation in Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery from Singapore Dental Council in 2016. Dr. Lalith left the National Dental Centre Singapore in 2017 to pursue a Ph.D. in Medication-Related Osteonecrosis of Jaw (MRONJ) at the Lee Kong Chain School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University. She recently completed her Ph.D. and rejoined National Dental Centre as a Research Fellow.

Dr. Lalith’s Ph.D. project involved treating zebrafish with bisphosphonate, expressing Bisphosphonate Related Osteonecrosis of the Jaw- like lesions in them, and studying the microenvironment. She has identified a potential anti-inflammatory compound that could be translated to the clinics for MRONJ prevention and management. As a Research Fellow at the National Dental Centre Singapore, she conducts translational research from bench studies to preclinical animal models and clinical trials.

Education

• Ph.D. Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Singapore 2023

• Dental Specialist Board Accreditation (Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery), Singapore 2016

• MDS (Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery), Singapore 2013

• Specialist diploma in Molecular Biotechnology, Singapore 2008

• BDS (India) 2002

Professional Appointments and Committee Memberships

• Research Fellow, National Dental Centre Singapore

• Adjunct Research Fellow Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School

• Registrar, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial surgery, National Dental Centre, Singapore, 2013 – 2017

• Resident, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, National University of Singapore (NUS), 2010– 2013

• Part-time lecturer National Institute of Technical Education (NITEC), Singapore, 2014-2017

• Part-time Graduate student tutor in the Faculty of Dentistry, National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore, 2011 – 2013

• Member of Association of oral and maxillofacial surgeons, 2016 -present

• Member of International Zebrafish Society -since 2020

• Member of Indian Dental Association- since 2002

Awards

• Best poster presentation at New Frontiers in Biomedicine conference, Singapore 2022

• Best presentation award at the Fish Bone workshop organised by European Calcified Tissue Society, 2021

• Nanyang Technological University research scholarship (2019-2022)

• University second rank holder in Periodontics, Final BDS Examinations, India, 2001

Research Interests

• Oral and Maxillofacial pathologies

• Temporomandibular dysfunction

• Oral Pre-malignant diseases

• Osteonecrosis of jaw

• Bone Regeneration Therapeutics

• Inflammatory Cells - neutrophils, macrophages

• Application of artificial intelligence to oral health science.

Publications

• Ethiraj, Lalith Prabha. Et al. "Developing a zebrafish model of bisphosphonate induced osteonecrosis of jaw to define cellular and molecular mechanisms." (2023). (PhD dissertation)

• Ethiraj, Lalith Prabha, et al. "Colorimetric and fluorescent TRAP assays for visualising and quantifying fish osteoclast activity." European Journal of Histochemistry: EJH 66.2 (2022).

• Liu R, Imangali N, Ethiraj LP, Carney TJ and Wrinkler C. Transcriptome profiling of osteoblasts in a Medaka (Oryzias latipes) Osteoporosis Model identifies Mmp13b as crucial for osteoclast activation. Front. Cell Dev. Biol.2022(10)

• Ethiraj LP, Carney TJ. Insights into bisphosphonate mediated jaw necrosis from a zebrafish model. Bone Reports 2021;14:101039.

• Fong, En Lei Samuel, Ethiraj Lalith Prabha, and Tom James Carney. Developing a Whole Mount Fluorescent Activity Assay to Visualize and Quantify in Situ Osteoclast Activity in Zebrafish. Vol. 102. Orthopaedic Proceedings:The British Editorial Society of Bone & Joint Surgery, 2020.

• Tomecka MJ, Ethiraj LP, Sánchez LM, et al. Clinical pathologies of bone fracture modelled in zebrafish. Disease models & mechanisms 2019;12(9):dmm037630.

Research Trials

• Novel management of MRONJ using small molecule inhibitors (PI).

• Validating a glucomannan coating scaffold in the modulation of host macrophage phenotype to improve post-extraction osteogenesis (PI).

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) Application in Oral Health Sciences towards Automatization of Digital Pathology Workflow (PI).

• Nerve injury assessment for third molar surgery with radiographic imaging (Co-I).

• A clinical study: To evaluate the use of a novel activatable probe to detect malignancy in oral lesions (Co-I).

• A novel technique using patient-specific polycaprolactone-tricalcium phosphate scaffold with adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells for alveolar ridge augmentation (Co-I).

• Development of a new BRONJ animal model and investigating the immunological and cellular mechanisms involved (PhD project).