Dr. Salih’s research expertise and interests are in several areas of biomedical sciences. These include regulation of biomineralization and modulation of bone remodeling stages such as bone resorption and formation utilizing both cell culture and mouse calvarial bone organ culture systems. Such studies are coupled with extensive protein structure-function analysis of bone extracellular matrix (ECM) components specifically the phosphoproteins and protein kinases that phosphorylate them. Development and use of novel chemistries for qualitative and quantitative determination of the precise phosphorylation sites and their topographical distribution on phosphoproteins using both N-terminal automated amino-acid sequencing and mass spectrometric (MS) technologies. Application of the state-of-the-art MS instrumentations such as MALDI-TOF-MS/MS and LTQ-LC-ESI-MS/MS for large-scale proteome and phosphoproteome studies in general cell biology and bone biology. These MS based approaches have been utilized in conjunction with specific new chemistries for quantitative proteomics and phosphoproteomics in both general cell biology and clinical samples, saliva and gingival crevicular fluid from patients with periodontal disease for diagnostic/predictive biomarker discovery. Further extensive studies have been carried out in the field of tissue engineering by design and use of bioactive composites of bone ECM phosphoproteins and native collagen as a carrier in in vivo models of bone regeneration and reparative dentinogenesis studies. Additional major interests and research areas are development and use of novel three-dimensional cancer-bone metastasis model using ex-vivo mouse calvarial bone organ cultures. This novel model developed by Dr Salih has been more recently utilized to evaluate effects of clinically used bisphosphonates on cancer-bone interactions as well as establish why and how patients who are treated with bisphosphonates for osteoporosis and cancer treatment are at high risk for “bisphosphonate induced-osteonecrosis of jaw bone”.