Expressions Newsletter

Boston University

Boston University School of Dental Medicine (BUSDM) is committed to scientific scholarship in dental medicine. Student involvement in research plays a fundamental role in the mission of the School.

The research environment at BUSDM provides state-of-the-art resources. Students choose research faculty mentors from 30 research scientists involved in more than 100 research projects that span broad areas of basic and applied biomedical sciences, as well as clinical and public health research. At the completion of research training, students are expected to showcase their accomplishments at the School's Science Day and at the University's Science and Engineering Research Symposium. In addition, students are encouraged to participate in national and international scientific meetings.

On Thursday, March 16, BUSDM celebrated its 25th Annual Science Day. On this day, the School honored predoctoral and postdoctoral students, as well as postdoctoral fellows who participated in research by showcasing 28 poster and oral presentations. The high quality of the presentations reflected students' dedication and hard work, as well as the commitment of the faculty and staff.

The 2006 ADA/DENTSPLY Student Clinician Program winner was Tsung-Lin James Lee, DMD '08, who carried out his research training under the guidance of Dr. Russell Giordano in the Department of Restorative Science/Biomaterials. His project is entitled “Spectrophotometer Evaluation of the Influence of Multiple Firing on Color and Opacity of Dental Ceramics.” He will represent the School at this October's ADA/DENTSPLY Student Clinician Program in Las Vegas. NV.

Creighton University

On April 18, Creighton University freshman students participated in the School's annual Table Clinic Competition. Ten teams of students presented their research projects in the form of either oral PowerPoint presentations or posters. The audience included members of dental administration and faculty. Selected faculty served as judges for the presentations.

Winning First Place was Team 6 with its presentation “A Study of Hydrogen Peroxide Bleaching Agents and Their Effects on Superficially Stained Dental Restorative Materials.” Team members included Andy Maples, Manny Martinez, Kathleen McKay, Chris Meehan, Patrick Miyamasu, Sasan Molavi, and Courtney Molettiere. The group's mentor was Dr. Jabro. The group chose Andy Maples to represent them in October at the ADA/DENTSPLY Student Clinician Program in Las Vegas, NV.

In Second Place was Team 2 with “Screening for Atherosclerosis Using i-CAT Radiography.” Members of the team included Zach Currie, Tina Carter, Stephanie Casey, Christina Chiang, Elizabeth Christian, Maribel Chavez, and Jon Dahl. Dr. Norton was Team 2's mentor.

With their presentation, “Appropriate Use of American Heart Association Antibiotic Prophylaxis for Adult Patients Seen at Creighton University School of Dentistry,” Team 7 won Third Place in the table clinic competition. Members of the team mentored by Dr. Parrish included Carrie Orn, Denise Mui, Deepak Neduvelil, Peter Nelson, Janette Nieblas, Antony Odhiambo, and Tennille Penn.

A few days after the table clinic competition, select members from each group presented their posters to the alumni attending the annual Spring Dental Assembly. Also, on March 31, volunteer groups presented their posters at the Nebraska Dental Association. Team 6 took Third Place at this competition.

Howard University

Howard University College of Dentistry held its Annual Table Clinic Program during the 2006 Nation's Capital Dental Meeting of the District of Columbia Dental Society in Washington, DC, April 22.
Sophomore, Junior and Senior dental students collaborated on the presentation of their table clinics. Four distinguished judges evaluated their clinics.

Seniors Amira Baker and Takeisha Presson took First Prize for their table clinic “Mechanical Properties of Various Rubber Dams.” Amira Baker will represent the School at the ADA/DENTSPLY Student Clinician Program in Las Vegas, NV, this October.

O'Tisha Preston, a junior, won Second Prize for her table clinic entitled, “Resistance of Oral Biofilm to Antimicrobial Agents,” and Latrice Foster won Third Prize for her table clinic entitled, “Development of a Split Packaging System for the Production of Bovine AAV Vectores.”

The winners participated in the Student Clinician Competition at the National Dental Association Annual Meeting in July and will present at the Greater New York Dental Meeting in November.

Other students earning recognition for their research achievements during the school year included Jarrett Caldwell, First Prize, Deanne Hayenes, Second Prize and Kisha Steele, Third Prize, during the District of Columbia Dental Society Meeting held September 13, 2005, in Washington, DC. Jarrett Caldwell also participated and won Second Prize in the Student Clinician Competition at the 81st Annual Session of the Greater New York Dental Meeting held in New York, NY, November 27, 2005.

In his winning Table Clinic, “Bioactive Glass-Ionomer Cement,” presented during the Oregon Dental Conference from April 8-10, Oregon Health & Science University student Paul McAllister identified a way to increase the longevity of cast restorations through a biomimetic material.

Paul, a third-year student in OHSU's School of Dentistry, will compete at the national level during the ADA/DENTSPLY Student Clinician Program in October.

OHSU's four-hour Table Clinic Program featured eight presentations and focused on either clinical application and techniques or basic science and research. The Oregon Dental Association and DENTSPLY sponsored the Table Clinic competition.

OHSU second-year students John Delplanche and Jared Ward won Second and Third Prize, respectively.

The School of Dentistry at the University of Alabama at Birmingham hosted its first Scholars' Symposium on March 1. The event, which will become an annual program, showcases the research and scholarly activities of the students, residents and faculty.

Students presented 47 posters and eight table clinics in the lobby of the School of Dentistry Building for judging in basic and clinical science categories. After the judging, an awards ceremony and reception featuring keynote speaker Dr. Henning Birkedal-Hansen took place at the Margaret Cameron Spain Auditorium.

Ejvis Lamani, a first year DMD/PhD student, took the overall prize for her basic science poster. Both Ejvis Lamani and Melissa Talbert, who won First Place with her Predoctoral Basic Science Poster, will present their posters at the Hinman Student Symposium in Memphis on October 27-29. Jennifer May, who won Second Place with her Predoctoral Basic Science Poster, will present her table clinic at the ADA/DENTSPLY Student Clinician Program this October.

Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine held a joint Table Clinic Program and Research Activity Day on April 18 in which 15 table clinics were presented. The day offered a presentation by guest speaker
Dr. Lawrence Tabak, Director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.

The day concluded with the announcement that sophomore dental student, Hillarie Ryann Hudson, had been judged Overall Winner with her clinic “SEM Study of Effects of Beverages on Margins of Restorations.” She will represent the school at the Annual ADA/DENTSPLY Student Clinician Program, and also present her table clinic at the Illinois State Dental Society and Chicago Dental Society Meetings.

Winners in other categories were Lisa Baines, Matthew Bell, Chad Drouin, Chuck Schumacher, and Cheryl Stevenson.

The University of Colorado Health Sciences Center School of Dentistry held its 22nd Annual Research Day on February 14.

Dr. Lawrence Tabak, the Director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, was invited to give a presentation entitled “A Systems View of Oral Biology.” An additional distinguished guest speaker was Dr. Pamela Yelick from the Forsyth Institute, whose presentation was entitled “Progress in Whole Tooth Tissue Engineering.”

The presentations by the distinguished guests were followed by a poster session in which 25 students participated by submitting abstracts and presenting posters. Benjamin Foley was chosen to serve as the School's representative at the ADA/DENTSPLY Student Clinician Program to be held in Las Vegas during the ADA Annual Session in October. The title of the first year dental student's presentation is “Alterations in Sodium Channels and Caspr Relationships in Painful Teeth.”

The New Jersey Dental School “Dr. Michael Balbo Exposition Day” was held on Wednesday, March 22, 2006.
On Exposition Day the faculty and students present original scientific research, table clinics and presentations to the University Community. Fredric C. Mazza won First Place honors at the Expo 2006 for the second year and will represent the School at the 2006 ADA/DENTSPLY Student Clinician Program in Las Vegas, Nevada. He also presented his poster at the NJDA Annual Convention in Atlantic City, NJ in June.

Fredric is a second year student who anticipates receiving his DMD degree in 2008 from UMDNJ-NJDS. He received his Master's degree from Seton Hall University in 2003.

The University of Missouri at Kansas City School of Dentistry held its Annual Table Clinic Competition on Friday, March 17.

The competition was held in conjunction with the 2006 Midwest Dental Conference in Kansas City, MO. Seventy-four clinics were presented during the competition involving 69 third-year dental students. Topics including periodontal therapies, dental abnormalities, dental materials, and surgery techniques were presented to several thousand conference attendees during the Friday afternoon session.

Table Clinic judges composed of dental school faculty selected student clinicians Racheal Graue and Neepa Patel as recipients of the First Place Award. Their Table Clinic was entitled “Full Mouth Series: Do We Really Need Them on a Routine Basis?” Neepa will represent the school in the ADA/DENTSPLY Student Clinician Program this October.

The University of Michigan School of Dentistry held its annual Research Day in February.
Second-year student Erin Ealba won the Grand Prize and will represent the School in the ADA/DENTSPLY Student Clinician Program in Las Vegas, NV. Her research shows that enamelysin, MMP-20, may not only be important in enamel formation but also in the disappearance of the dental basement membrane.

In March, the American Association for Dental Research's National Student Research Group named Erin its President. In remarks to the group during the organization's annual meeting in Orlando, she emphasized the importance of research to her peers.

“Without continued collaboration between researchers and clinicians, our profession may be hindered,” she said. If clinicians and researchers “do not work in conjunction with each other, we will not be providing the general public with the best care.”

The University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry held its Annual Professionals' Day on March 24.
Richard Valachovic, DMD, MPH, Executive Director of the American Dental Education Association, served as the Guest Lecturer. His presentation was entitled “That Space Between the Lips and Tonsils: How Did the Oral Cavity Get Separated From the Rest of the Body?”

Earning First Prize in the Table Clinic Competition was third-year dental student Chad McClellan for “Effect of Autopolymerizing Acrylic Resin Splinting and Indexing Technique on Accuracy of Open-tray Implant Impressions.” His Faculty Mentors were Dr. Brian Chang, Dr. Eunghwan Kim, and Dr. Randall Toothaker.

Loma Linda University School of Dentistry (LLUSD) recently presented third-year dental student Matthew Sanders with the DENTSPLY Student Clinician Award.

Matthew's study took First Place in the laboratory category at the Annual LLUSD Alumni-Student Convention. He also took First Place in the Clinical Category during the Statewide California Dental Association (CDA) Student Research Competition.

Matthew's winning research project was titled “Cone Beam CT Artifacts Generated by Four Different Orthodontic Bracket Materials.” His preceptor for this project was Dr. Leroy Leggett, Associate Professor in Graduate Orthodontics. Matt's leadership role is instrumental in developing the Student Research Association at Loma Linda University School of Dentistry.

Matthew was presented with this award at the Awards Chapel held in May at the Randall's Visitor Center. He will compete in the ADA/DENTSPLY Student Clinician Program in Las Vegas in October.

The University of Kentucky College of Dentistry held its Annual College Research Day on February 14.

The event featured more than 25 oral, poster and table clinic presentations by College of Dentistry faculty, predoctoral dental students, and residents, as well as dental hygiene students from the Lexington Community College. The Keynote Address, “New Research into Pain Mechanisms,” was given by Dr. Ken Hargreaves, Professor and Chair of the Department of Endodontics and the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

Brandon McGarrell, a third-year dental student, received the DENTSPLY Student Clinician Award for his presentation “Heat Stress Alters Cellular Transcription During HSV-1 Reactivation.” Brandon will represent the College in the ADA/DENTSPLY Student Clinician Program in Las Vegas, NV. Brandon's mentor is Craig Miller, DMD, MS, Professor in the Oral Medicine Division of the Department of Oral Health Practice. Shane Duncan, DENTSPLY North America Field Force Representative, attended the session and was on hand to present the award.

Mae Hyre, a third-year dental student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine, was recently chosen to represent the school at the 2006 ADA Annual Scientific Session in Las Vegas, NV.

During her three years in dental school, Mae has been intensely involved in research under the guidance of Dr. Mark Mooney, Professor in the Department of Oral Biology and Mae's mentor in the anthropology laboratory. In 2004 and 2005, she received short-term training grants from the National Institutes of Health and won the American Association of Dental Research (Pittsburgh chapter) Student Research Award in 2005.

While volunteering over the last two years as an assistant in the gross anatomy laboratory, she has co-authored a number of abstracts including: “Fluctuating asymmetry in craniosynostotic rabbit dentition: Measuring developmental instability” published in the Journal of Dental Research after acceptance and presentation at the General Session of the International Association of Dental Research in Baltimore, MD in March 2005, and “Asymmetrical dentition in rabbits with naturally-occurring premature coronal suture synostosis,” also published in the Journal of Dental Research after acceptance and presentation at the Annual Session of the American Association of Dental Research in Orlando, Florida in March 2006.

During the School of Dental Medicine's First Professional Student Awards Ceremony in May, Mae was honored as the recipient of the 2006 W. Arthur George Prosthodontic Award. Her future plans include working with patients with craniofacial anomalies. During her undergraduate studies at the University of Miami, Mae was involved in research concerning the evolution of aesthetics, which piqued her interest in abnormalities such as cleft lip and palate and other craniofacial anomalies.

The University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry's 25th Annual Scientific Day was held on April 13 at the Reed Convention Center in Midwest City.

A total of 44 dental, dental hygiene, and advanced education students presented posters of their research and clinical projects. Five finalists of the Ishmael Essay Contest were selected to make oral presentations. Excellent support from corporations and dental organizations made it possible to present more than $8,000 in awards at the Scientific Day luncheon.

This year's winner of the DENTSPLY Student Clinician Award was third-year dental student, Jon Lindblom. Jon will present his project, “Nono-scale Topographical Analyses of Selected Restorative Dental Biomaterials,” at the 2006 ADA/DENTSPLY Student Clinician Program in Las Vegas, NV in October. Jon has been conducting research in this area for the past two summers under the mentorship of Dr. Sharukh Khajotia, Chair of Dental Materials. Jon was also the 2005 winner of the DENTSPLY Student Clinician award, the first time in the history of the School that a student has earned the award twice.

Sean McPhee, a first-year student at the University of Washington School of Dentistry, won the School's DENTSPLY Student Clinician Award by taking first place in the Summer Research Fellowship (SURF) Research Competition during Research Day on September 23, 2005.

Dr. Whasun Chung, Research Assistant Professor in Oral Biology, was preceptor for Sean's research project titled “Differential Regulation of Inflammatory Genes by Various Oral Bacteria.” In addition to competing in the national table clinic competition in Las Vegas this October, Sean was honored at the UW School of Dentistry's Annual Honors and Awards
Ceremony on June 2.

Six students from the University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry earned top honors during the School's Eighth Annual Research Day and Student Research Competition on May 24.

Micah Porter, Class of 2007, was awarded First Place in Pacific's ADA/DENTSPLY Student Clinician Competition for his presentation, “Msx1 Ca-Repeat Polymorphism in Etiology of Cleft Lip and Palate.” Alison Yen and Ashley Streeter, Class of 2007, received Second and Third Place for their respective projects, “Variable Gene Expression in Different Human Oral Cancer Cells Driven by the Survivin or Cytomegalovirus Promoters” and “Targeting Gene Transfer Vectors to Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Cells.” Josh Smith and Mike Lindsay, Class of 2007, earned Honorable Mention for their joint project, “Influence of Estrogen and Progesterone on Submandibular Blood Flow.”

Micah Porter will represent the university at the national ADA/DENTSPLY Student Clinician Program in Las Vegas in October. Alison Yen and Ashley Streeter will represent the university at the Hinman Student Research Symposium which will be held in Tennessee in October.
In the senior research category, Spencer Hinckley, Class of 2006, took home the Top Prize for his “Fluorescence Detection of Binding Between Env- and C-Heptad Repeat Peptides of Hiv-1 Gp41: An Approach to Drug Screening.” Second Place was awarded to Kenny Kilpatrick, Class of 2006, for “Parasympathetic Vasodilatation in the Rat Submandibular Gland: Effects of Gender.”

Also competing that same day were 35 students and residents from the School of Dentistry who showcased their clinical skills during the 5th Annual Clinical Excellence Day, sponsored by the Omicron Kappa Upsilon Honor Society's Delta Delta Chapter.

Students and residents presented their cases with patient-subjects and informative posters in the dental school's main clinic. Students competed in several categories that included case presentation, aesthetics, removable prosthodontics, complex restorative, implants and supportive therapies. In addition, the competition included separate categories for Pacific's Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) Program. Teams of dental school faculty members reviewed and judged students' cases based on oral and physical presentation, case difficulty, preparation and treatment.

First and Second Place winners of each category were announced at Pacific's Alumni/Graduate Banquet on June 9:

Tufts University School of Dental Medicine held its Annual Bates-Andrews Student Research Day on February 22. Nineteen predoctoral students and 12 postgraduate students presented their research in poster format and six Master of Science candidates gave oral presentations.
The keynote speaker was Dr. David Kaplan, Professor and Chair of Tufts University Department of Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Kaplan discussed his work with bioengineered cellular scaffolds.

Winna Goldman, a second-year dental student, was selected to represent the school in the 2006 ADA/DENTSPLY Student Clinician Program. Winna did her research in the laboratory of Dr. Jonathan Garlick, Professor in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology and Director of the Division of Cancer Biology and Tissue Engineering. Her poster was “Stromal Cross-Talk Influences Malignant Progression of E-Cadherin-Deficient Carcinoma Cells.”

Other awards included:
• First Place Award for Oral Presentation by a MS student to Daniel Engler-Hamm for “Prospective Evaluation of Hard- and Soft-Tissue Remodeling After Ridge Preservation With and Without Primary Wound Closure.”

• Best Postgraduate Poster Presentation to Drs. Yaritza Vazquez, Alykhan Kherani, Jan Ortiz (all General Practice Residents) for “Efficiency of New Technology in Special Needs Patients.”

• Best Scientific Research Presentation by a Senior (Andrews Society Award) to Wesley Chiang (D '06) for “Altered Passive Eruption - a Cross-Sectional Study of Changes in Clinical Crown Length From Age 10-14 Years.”

Temple University School of Dentistry's Research Table Clinic Competition for dental students is relatively unique. The format for this competition was inaugurated by former SCADA President Professor Jon B. Suzuki, Associate Dean for Graduate Education, Research, and International Affairs. In the early spring of the academic calendar year, dental students are solicited for abstracts of their basic or clinical research projects for submission to an ad hoc Awards Committee. This year, the panel of judges included: Dr. Thomas Rams, Dr. Laurie MacPhail and Dr. Jon Suzuki, all of whom have had NIH research funding.

Student submitted research abstracts are selected and a list of finalists is chosen to construct a table clinic. The table clinics are then presented to the panel of judges similar to the format used by Judges in the ADA/DENTSPLY Student Clinician Program. In essence, the oral presentation to the judges is approximately seven to 10 minutes, followed by questions.

The winner this year is Michael Stosich, a freshman dental student from Chicago, IL.

Twenty-one students from NYU College of Dentistry and its College of Nursing were honored in April at Research Day 2006. The students shared the spotlight with Dr. Ira Lamster, Dean of the Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery, who presented a lecture entitled “The Link Between Oral Infection and Systemic Diseases: From Animal Models to Clinical Trials.”
Associate Dean for Research Dr. Louis Terracio presided at the ceremony and presented the Fourth Annual NYUCD Distinguished Scientist Award to Dean Lamster.

Major award winners were as follows:
The ADA/DENTSPLY Student Research Award and the Omicron Kappa Upsilon, Omega Chapter Award went to Mr. Michael Weiner, DDS '09, for his presentation on “Calcium Sulfate and PLLA Containing Bone Repair Materials.” His advisor was Dr. John L. Ricci.

Ms. Leslie Fina, DDS '08, took home the Student Research Group Award for Excellence in Research with her presentation “Fatigue and Longevity of New Ceramic Dental Materials.” Her advisor was Dr. Van P. Thompson.

The Dean's Research Award went to Dr. Andy Lee, DDS '06, for “Detection and Quantification of S. Sanguinis by Quantitative Real-Time PCR Assays.” His advisor was Dr. Yihong Li.

Dr. Marci Berger, Advanced Education Program in Pediatric Dentistry '06, received the Postgraduate Research Award for “Non-Invasive Methods to Diagnose Pediatric Sleep Apnea.” Dr. Kenneth Fleisher served as her advisor.