Research Celebrated During Science Day 2016
On March 24, 2016, members of the Boston University Medical Campus (BUMC) gathered for Science Day, an annual event that highlights the exceptional research being conducted at Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine (GSDM). The day started with a poster research session, followed by lunch, and a keynote presentation. The day concluded with a series of oral research presentations. An accompanying vendor fair was held at 100 East Newton Street.
This year’s keynote speaker was Dr. Charles Serhan, an Endowed Distinguished Scientist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). Dr. Serhan also serves as the Director of the Center for Experimental Therapeutics and Reperfusion Injury at BWH and is Simon Gelman Professor of Anesthesia at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Serhan gave a compelling and very well received presentation on “Structural Elucidation of Novel Mediators in Resolution of Infectious Inflammation & Tissue Regeneration.”
“Dr. Serhan gave an outstanding presentation and certainly contributed to making Science Day a success,” said Dr. Maria Kukuruzinska, Associate Dean for Research at GSDM. “He also took time from his busy schedule to have lunch with students, to view the poster presentations and to meet with members of the GSDM faculty. We are very grateful for his enthusiastic participation.”
Dozens of students and fellows presented at this year’s event, with twenty-four poster presentations and ten oral presentations across a number of research areas. These innovative and diverse projects are presented by GSDM community members who are conducting research, including DMD students, AS students, master’s and PhD students, postdoctoral students, and postdoctoral fellows.
A panel of faculty judges determined winners from each category, with an additional award given jointly by the American Dental Association (ADA) and Dentsply.
“The 2016 Science Day at GSDM gave our students and residents a chance to showcase some of the truly remarkable achievements in research that they are working on,” said Dean Jeffrey W. Hutter. “I would like to thank everyone who participated in the 2016 Science Day at GSDM.”
The Science Day winners will be honored at an Awards Luncheon with faculty and special guests on April 15, 2016. They will each receive a certificate presented by Dean Hutter and Dr. Maria Kukuruzinska as well as a cash prize.
Science Day 2016 Poster Presentation Winners:
Dental Students (DMD/AS) First Place:
Safeer Jiwa, Elise Vincelette, Melih Motro and Leslie Will. Department of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics: “Assessment of Mirror Image Facial Asymmetries in Monozygotic and Dizygotic Twins.”
Masters MSD/First Year PhD/DScD First Place:
Chin-Hua Yang, Ghassan Darwish, Na Tian, Guoxian Wei and Eva J. Helmerhorst. Department of Molecular & Cell Biology: “Determine Optimal Culture and Dosage Conditions for Rothia Bacteria Degrading Gluten in the TIM-1 Human Digestion Model.”
Post-doctoral Students First Place:
Ahmed Alamoudi, Sundharamani Venkitapathi, Dongliang Xu, Hak Hotta and Yoshiyuki Mochida. Department of Molecular & Cell Biology: “Loss of Fam20a Leads to Dwarfism Due to Proliferation and Maturation Defects in Dhondrocytes.”
Postdoctoral Fellows First Place:
Gokhan Ozdener and Philip Trackman. Department of Molecular & Cell Biology: “Vacuolar/Cytoplasmic pH Gradient by Inhibitors of ATP and Ionophores Increase Cell Uptake and Endosomal Escape of the Tumor Suppressor Lysyl Oxidase Propeptide (rLOX-PP).”
Science Day 2016 Oral Presentation Winners:
Dental Students (DMD/AS) First Place
Jayesh Patel, Abdulsalam Al-Shammari, Jacob Al-Hashemi and Salomon Amar. Department of Molecular & Cell Biology: “Kava Treatment Reduced Porphyromonas Gingivalis-induced Aveolar Bone Loss.”
Masters MSD/1st yr PhD/DScD First Place
Martha Neely, Raffi Miller, Sharron Rich, Leslie Will, Wanda Wright, Judith Jones. Department of Orthodontics and Orthofacial Orthopedics: “Oral Health Quality Of Life in Adult Orthodontic Patients.”
Post-doctoral Students First Place:
Mohamed Ahmed and Darrell Kotton. Center for Regenerative Medicine: “Directed Differentiation of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells into Endothelial and Neural Crest-like Cells.”
ADA/Dentsply Award:
Tamanna Gandhi, Khikmet Sadykov, Khalid Alamoud and Maria Kukuruzinska. Department of Molecular & Cell Biology: “Inhibition of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma with beta-catenin Antagonist ICG-001.”
Photos from Science Day 2016 can be found on Facebook and Flickr.