Biography

Erin Ealba Bumann, DDS, PhD, MS is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Oral and Craniofacial Sciences at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) School of Dentistry. She received her BS in Anthropology/Zoology and DDS from the University of Michigan in 2004 and 2008, respectfully. She subsequently received her PhD in Oral and Craniofacial Sciences from the University of California, San Francisco in 2013. She then conducted post-doctoral training in craniofacial biology and completed her residency and MS in Pediatric Dentistry at the University of Michigan in 2017. Dr. Bumann has been a Board-Certified Pediatric Dentist since 2018. Part of her PhD and all of her post-doctoral training were funded by a National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIH/NIDCR) K08 and Pediatric Research Loan Repayment Program. Dr. Bumann’s research has been funded by NIH/NIDCR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,  the American Dental Association, and the College of Diplomates of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry grants. She is also Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and American College of Dentists.

Research
Dr. Bumann’s research has identified multiple developmental mechanisms that control the size and shape of the jaw skeleton. These experiments not only reveal that neural crest mesenchyme (NCM) autonomously regulates cell cycle progression and the timing of osteogenic differentiation, but they also indicate that cell cycle and osteogenesis are inexorably linked as a developmental module in vivo as they are in vitro. This work also uncovered a novel function for bone resorption, which is to help establish species-specific jaw length; and the transplant experiments indicate that the underlying molecular mechanisms stem from the ability of NCM to control the activity of its own derivatives (i.e., osteocytes) and also that of mesoderm-derived osteoclasts. This research shows the remarkable ability of NCM to maintain spatiotemporal control over the induction, differentiation, deposition, mineralization, and the resorption of bone is what integrates the determinants of jaw length across multiple embryonic stages and is what empowers NCM with its ability to generate skeletal variation during disease and evolution.

Additionally, Dr. Bumann’s research created a novel strategy for estimating species-specific contributions in chimeras and xenografts. Specifically, they developed a simple molecular strategy to quantify species-specific contributions in chimeras and xenografts. Many tissue-engineering approaches for repair and regeneration involve transplants between species. Yet a challenge was to distinguish donor versus host effects on gene expression. Species-specific primers were designed for reverse transcription quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) by identifying silent mutations in quail, duck, chicken, mouse and human ribosomal protein L19. This strategy enables chimeras and/or xenografts to be screened rapidly at the molecular level.

Staff

• Claire Houchen, Graduate Research Assistant
• Portia Hahn Leat, Research Aide

Recent Publications
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

• McDermott CL, Hilton K, Park AT, Tooley UA, Boroshok AL, Mupparapu M, Scott JM, Bumann EE, Mackey AP. Early life stress is associated with earlier emergence of permanent molars. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). 2021 Jun 15;118(24):e2105304118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2105304118. PMID: 34103399; PMCID: PMC8214676.
• Bumann EE, Hahn Leat P, Wang HH, Hufft-Martinez BM, Wang W, Tran PV. Genetic Interaction of Thm2 and Thm1 Shapes Postnatal Craniofacial Bone. Journal of Developmental Biology. 2022 May 11;10(2):17. doi: 10.3390/jdb10020017. PMID: 35645293; PMCID: PMC9149932.
• Chandrashekar G*, AlQarni S*, Bumann EE, Lee Y. Collaborative deep learning model for tooth segmentation and identification using panoramic radiographs. Computers in Biology and Medicine. 2022 Sep;148:105829. doi: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2022.105829. Epub 2022 Jul 16. PMID: 35868047.
• Houchen CJ*, Castro B*, Hahn Leat P*, Mohammad N*, Hall-Glenn F, Bumann EE. Treatment with an inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase 9 or cathepsin K lengthens embryonic lower jaw bone. Orthod Craniofac Res. 2023 Aug;26(3):500-509. doi: 10.1111/ocr.12635. Epub 2023 Feb 1. PMID: 36680416.
• Bumann, E.E.; Al-Qarni S*, Chandrashekar G*, Sabzian R*, Bohaty B, Lee Y. A novel collaborative learning model for mixed dentition and fillings segmentation in panoramic radiographs. J Dent. 2024 Jan;140:104779. doi: 10.1016/j.jdent.2023.104779. Epub 2023 Nov 24. PMID: 38007173.
• Houchen CJ*, Bergman-Gonzalez M*, Bumann EE. A novel qPCR-based technique for identifying avian sex: An illustration within embryonic craniofacial bone. Genesis. 2024 Feb;62(1):e23530. doi: 10.1002/dvg.23530. Epub 2023 Jun 24. PMID: 37353984.
• Ali Akbari Ghavimi S, Faulkner TJ, Tata RR, Hemmerla AJ, Huddleston SE, Rezaei F, Lungren ES, Zhang R, Bumann EE, Ulery BD. Hydrogen Sulfide Delivery to Enhance Bone Tissue Engineering Cell Survival. Pharmaceuticals. 2024; 17(5):585. https://doi.org/10.3390/ph17050585. PMID: 38794155
• Houchen CJ*, Ghanem S*, Kaartinen V, Bumann EE. TGF-β signaling in the cranial neural crest affects late-stage mandibular bone resorption and length. Front Physiol. 2024 Oct 15;15:1435594. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2024.1435594. PMID: 39473613; PMCID: PMC11519526.
• Junxiang Zheng, Bing Jiang, Saurabh Biswas, Su Young Lee, Erin E. Bumann, Teresa Lever, Jeonghee Kim, and Hangue Park. Alteration of Mastication Force via Intraoral Closed-loop Electrical Stimulation. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering. 2025. doi: 10.1109/TNSRE.2025.3535681.
• Claire J Houchen, Portia Hahn Leat, Cassandra Delich, Jocelyn Vang, Sara Haggard, Joseph L Roberts, Hicham Drissi, Erin E Bumann. Wnt5a gain- and loss-of-function present distinctly in craniofacial bone. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2025 July 2025.07.21.665966; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.07.21.665966.

• Book Chapter
  • Bumann, E.E. and V. Kaartinen. (2018) Craniofacial Morphogenesis, In: Primer on the Metabolic Bone Diseases and Disorders of Mineral Metabolism, 9th Edition, Section Editor, Laurie McCauley, Wiley-Blackwell.
  • Bumann, E.E. and V. Kaartinen (2025). Craniofacial Morphogenesis, In: Primer on the Metabolic Bone Diseases and Disorders of Mineral Metabolism, 10th Edition, Section Editor, Laurie McCauley and Bumann, E.E., LWW. ISBN-10 1975215621.

• Book Section
  • McCauley, L.K. and Bumann, E.E (2025). Oral and Maxillofacial Biology and Pathology, In: Primer on the Metabolic Bone Diseases and Disorders of Mineral Metabolism, 10th Edition, Editor in Chief, Bilezikian, J.P., LWW. ISBN-10 1975215621.

• Reference Manuals
  • American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. The Reference Manual of Pediatric Dentistry. Chicago, Ill.: American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. 2020-2025