Science Day Highlights Stem Cells and Wide Range of Student Research

Science Day 2010 was held on Thursday, March 25. The annual event featured poster and oral presentations by predoctoral and postdoctoral students as well as postdoctoral fellows. The depth and breadth of research at this year’s event was truly remarkable. Vendors also descended on the Dental School cafeteria to showcase the latest dental products available for dental practitioners.

After lunch, Chair and the Herbert Schilder Professor in Endodontics and Director of the Advanced Specialty Education Program in Endodontics Dr. George Huang presented the keynote research presentation to a packed auditorium. His lecture, "It was the stem cell all along," highlighted the power of stem cells. Clinical trials are currently underway to use stem cells to repair critical organs and tissues such as heart and nerve tissues. Stem cell-mediated regeneration could become more prevalent for restoring all kinds of tissues—and teeth—in the next 20 years.

“I am thrilled at the prospect of turning stem cells into specialized tooth making cells and nerve cells,” says Dr. Huang. “We can even reprogram human dental stem cells into human embryonic-like cells called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which may be an unlimited source of cells for tissue regeneration.”

Leyla Sahabi DMD 12 and Sahar Abtahi DMD 12 were the respective winners of the poster and oral presentations in the predoctoral category. Sahabi’s poster was titled, "Vessel Wall Structural Changes in Diabetic Microvasculature," and she completed her research under the guidance of Corneliu Sima, Dr. Robert Gyurko, and Dr. Thomas Van Dyke. Abtahi’s presentation was titled, "Resolvin E1 Enhances P. Gingivalis Phagocytosis by PMN." Abtahi worked on this research with the help of Yael Houri-Haddad, Dr. Taisuke Ohira, Dr. Alpdogan Kantarci, and Dr. Van Dyke.

Kimberly Chan DMD 12 was the winner of this year’s ADA/Dentsply Award for her research titled, ”Embryonic Stem Cell Gene Expression Detected in OFCD-iPS Cells.” She completed this research under the guidance of Xing Yan, James Liao, and Dr. George Huang.

Maha Bahammam PERIO 11 and Siddika Selva Sume ORAL BIO 10 were the respective winners of the poster and oral presentations in the postdoctoral category. Bahammam’s research was titled, "“GSK3β: A Novel Regulator of CCN2/CTGF Expression Human Gingival Fibroblasts," and was completed under the guidance of Dr. Philip Trackman. Sume’s research was titled, "Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition in Gingival Overgrowth,” and was completed with the help of Dr. Kantarci, Alan Lee, Dr. Hatice Hasturk, and Dr. Trackman.

Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Postdoctoral Fellow Prashath Ravi was the winner of the postdoctoral fellow category for a poster presentation titled, "Ameloblastoma of the Jaws: Is Recurrence Likely?” which was completed with the help of Brandon Meier OMFS 11, Dr. Pushkar Mehra, Dr. Ishwar Bhatia, and Dr. Sadru Kabani.

Winners will be honored at the Science Day Awards Luncheon held on April 6 at the School of Medicine’s Hiebert Lounge.

"I’d like to thank Dr. Maria Kukuruzinska for once again putting together such a comprehensive and excellent event," said Dean Jeffrey W. Hutter. "Research is a major part of what we do here at the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine and it is extremely important to come together as a community each year to recognize the efforts of our researchers at every level. I’m also very pleased to see our students completing research on such a wide variety of topics related to oral health."

Photos from the event are available on GSDM’s flickr account and Facebook page.