Dr Alan Cruchley

Senior Lecturer in Oral Pathology (non clinical)

Biography

Alan Cruchley is non clinical Senior Lecturer in Oral Pathology in the Centre for Clinical and Diagnostic Oral Sciences.  He was awarded his PhD in 1995 by the University of London for his thesis “The relationship between epithelial permeability and the Langerhans cell population of normal oral mucosa and skin”.  He was subsequently appointed as Lecturer in 1995 becoming Senior Lecturer in 2001.  The main focus of his research is mucosal defense and protection and he has developed an assay to investigate the response of the oral mucosa to challenge.

He has extensive experience in teaching both undergraduate and graduate dental students. He is the   teaching lead within the Centre for Clinical and Diagnostic Oral Sciences. He currently acts as Module Convener for Clinical Oral Cavity and has responsibility for the Oral Pathology teaching for the Undergraduate Dental Course.  In 2005 he became Course Tutor for the MSc in Experimental Oral Sciences (Pathology) and has successfully revitalised the course which has led to a large increase in student applications.  His other contribution to the Institutes teaching programme includes participating in the intercalated BSc in Oral Biology and the Diploma in Dental Clinical Sciences.  Through his teaching he has been involved with the academic and research supervision of students from within the United Kingdom, Ireland, Brazil, Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria, Syria, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Thailand, Sri Lanka and China.

Publications:

Key Publications

Cruchley A.T., Speight P.M. & Williams D.M.  (1987)  Dual expression of HLADR and CD1 (T6) on Langerhans cells in human buccal mucosa and skin.  Arch Oral Biol 32: 849 - 853.

Farthing P.M. & Cruchley A.T.  (1989)  Expression of MHC Class II antigens (HLA DR, DP and DQ) by keratinocytes in oral lichen planus.  J Oral Pathol Med 18: 305-309.

Lesch C.A., Squier C.A., Cruchley A., Williams D.M. & Speight P.  (1989)  The permeability of human oral mucosa and skin to water.  J Dent Res 68: 1345-1349.

Cruchley A.T., Williams D.M., Farthing P.M., Lesch C.A. & Squier C.A.  (1989)  Regional variation in Langerhans cell distribution and density in normal human oral mucosa using monoclonal antibodies against CD1, HLADR, HLADQ and HLADP.  J Oral Pathol Med 18: 510-516.

Farthing P.M., Matear P. & Cruchley A.T.  (1990)  The activation of Langerhans cells in oral lichen planus.  J Oral Pathol Med 19: 81-85.

Farthing P.M., Matear P. & Cruchley A.T.  (1992)  Langerhans cells distribution and keratinocyte expression of HLADR in oral lichen planus.  J Oral Pathol Med 21: 451-455.

Cruchley A.T., Williams D.M., Farthing P.M., Speight P.M., Lesch C.A. & Squier C.A.  (1994)  Langerhans cell density in normal human oral mucosa and skin: relationship to age, smoking and alcohol consumption.  J Oral Pathol Med 23: 55-59.

Williams D.M. & Cruchley A.T.  (1994)  Structural aspects of aging in the oral mucosa.  in The effect of aging in Oral Mucosa and Skin.  Squier C.A. & Hill M.W. eds.  CRC Press;  Boca Raton.  65-74.

Squier C.A., Wertz P., Williams D.M., & Cruchley A.T.  (1994)  Permeability of oral mucosa and skin with age.  in The effect of aging in Oral Mucosa and Skin.  Squier C.A. & Hill M.W. eds.  CRC Press;  Boca Raton.  91-98.

Barrett, A.W., Cruchley, A.T., & Williams D.M.  (1996)  Oral mucosal Langerhans cells.  Crit Rev Oral Biol Med 7: 36-58.

Taichman NS, Cruchley AT, Fletcher LM, Hagi-Pavli E, Paleolog EM, Abrams W, Booth V, Edwards RE & Malamud D  (1998)  Vascular endothelial growth factor in normal human salivary glands and saliva:  A possible role in the maintenance of mucosal homeostasis.  Lab Invest  78:  869-875.

Booth V, Young S, Cruchley A, Taichman N & Palelog E.  (1998)  Vascular endothelial growth factor in periodontal disease  J Periodontol Res  33: 491 -499

Healy C.M., Cruchley A.T., Thornhill M.H. & Williams D.M..  (2000)  The effect of sodium lauryl sulphate, triclosan and zinc on the permeability of normal oral mucosa  Oral Diseases  6: 118-123

Selvaratnam L, Cruchley AT, Hagi-Pavli E  Wertz P, Navsaria H, Leigh IM, Squier CA & Williams DM.  (2001)  Oral Keratinocytes Develop a Functional and Biochemical Permeability Barrier Similar to Intact Oral Mucosa.  Oral Diseases 7: 252-258

Howie N.M, Trigkas T.K., Cruchley A.T., Wertz P.W., Squier C.A. & Williams  D.M. (2001) Short-term exposure to alcohol increases the permeability of human oral mucosa. Oral Diseases 7: 349-354.

Publications since 2001

Patel M.P, Cruchley A.T., Coleman D.C., Swai H., Braden M. & Williams D.M.  (2001)  A polymeric system for the intra-oral delivery of an anti-fungal agent  Biomaterials  22:  2319-2324.

Selvaratnam L, Cruchley AT, Hagi-Pavli E  Wertz P, Navsaria H, Leigh IM, Squier CA & Williams DM.  (2001)  Oral Keratinocytes Develop a Functional and Biochemical Permeability Barrier Similar to Intact Oral Mucosa.  Oral Diseases 7: 252-258

Patel MP, Pavlovic P, Hughes FJ, King GN, Cruchley A & Braden M.  (2001)  Release of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 from heterocyclic methacrylate polymer systems.  Biomaterials 22:  2081-2086.

Howie N.M, Trigkas T.K., Cruchley A.T., Wertz P.W., Squier C.A. & Williams  D.M. (2001) Short-term exposure to alcohol increases the permeability of human oral mucosa. Oral Diseases 7: 349-354.

Chidgey M, Brakebusch C, Gustafsson E, Cruchley A, Hail C, Kirk S, Merritt A, North A, Tselepis C, Hewitt J, Byrne C, Fassler R and Garrod D (2001)  Mice lacking desmocollin 1 show epidermal fragility accompanied by barrier defects and abnormal differentiation.  J Cell Biol 155:  821-832.

Kapas S, Pahal K, Cruchley AT, Hagi-Pavli E, Hinson JP (2004)  Expression of adrenomedullin and its receptors in human salivary tissue.  J Dent Res. 83: 333-7.

Research interests:

Alan Cruchley’s research activity has built on his work for his PhD and has been primarily concerned with the defensive and protective capacity of oral mucosa.  He has published on the role of the permeability barrier in oral disease, the role of saliva derived growth factors in mucosal protection and drug delivery across the oral mucosa. 

He has developed an in vitro assay to study the role of the mucosal barrier in mucosal health and disease.  His work with the model has attracted significant industrial funding exploring of the effect of oral health products and components on the oral mucosa and investigating the mechanisms underlying the responses of the epithelium.  He is currently using this model to investigate mucosal barrier homeostasis, the pathogenesis of oral submucous fibrosis and oral cancer; and the role of the barrier in the response of the mucosa to host commensal and pathogenic organisms.  

He has published over 40 peer reviewed papers and has been invited to present on mucosal defense and protection both nationally and internationally and hosted a “Lunch and Learning” seminar on the Barrier Properties of the Oral Mucosa for the International Association for Dental Research .