66th Birnberg Research Day 2023

Creating a culture of inquiry is a critical part of the Columbia University College of Dental Medicine’s mission. To that end, interested students are encouraged to participate in scholarly research. 
 
The Birnberg Research Awards advance that mission. Established by the Alumni Association of the College of Dental Medicine in the early 1950s to encourage students to engage in research, the program is named for Dr. Frederick Birnberg, a member of the class of 1915, who made a gift that helped to establish a research fund. 
 
On April 19, CDM held its annual celebration of that research, marking the return to an in-person event. The 66th Birnberg Research Program featured a keynote address by the 2023 Birnberg Research awardee, Muredach Reilly, director of the Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research and vice dean of clinical and translational research at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Reilly delivered a lecture on interdisciplinary models of translational research and training.
  

Dr. Reilly noted that research plays an important role in dental education. “Even if students don’t become researchers, it develops critical thinking and analytic skills, which, in turn make them better clinicians.” Reilly said that students don’t need PhDs to be researchers. “Advances in dentistry happen in clinical settings” he said. “The smartest ideas are coming from clinicians.”
 
This year of 45 pre-and postdoctoral CDM students presented research posters. Chang Lee, associate professor of craniofacial engineering and CDM’s director of research, said that the students who presented research this year are dedicated to creating new knowledge. “This is a very special group of students,” he said. “They are engaged with research and will be the next generation of dental scholars. Columbia is a research-intensive institution. We value this.”
 
Each poster is judged by members of the CDM faculty and the process is also a valuable part of the experience, Lee said. “Students presenting their research at this event benefit from interaction with a panel of faculty judges.”

The award-winning posters are:
Biomedical Science category - Pre-doctoral

1st place — Maya Jeremias (D2)
Hydrophilic Polydopamine (hPDA) Incorporated Fibrin Bio-Adhesive For Improved Healing Of Fibrocartilaginous Tissues

2nd place — Matthew Tiberino (D2)
Molecular Characterization of Pain Neurons Expressing TrpV1

3rd place — Soomin Shannon Park (D3)
Icariin-releasing 3D-Printed Scaffolds for Cleft Bone Regeneratio

Social, Behavioral and Educational category - Pre-doctoral

1st place — Alec Donelian (D3)
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Basal Cell Carcinoma Treated by Mohs Micrographic Surgery: The Columbia Experience

2nd place — Shriya Jain (D2)
Use of Psychology-Based Behavioral Techniques in the Dental Setting with Individuals with Special Health Care Needs: Pediatric Dental Resident Perspectives Before and After a Targeted Education

Post-doctoral Research

1st place — Sydney Shapiro
Medicaid Participation Among Early Career Pediatric Dentists

Lee noted that this year’s research topics were remarkably diverse, comprising social behavior, genomics, disparities in treatment and more. The research is also compiled in the Jarvie Journal, a student-edited publication.

Birnberg Research Program 2023 

Read the William Jarvie Journal 2023  to learn more about student research. 

Predoctoral Student Presenters 

Molecular, Cellular, Tissue, System, Regenerative Medicine, & Organism Biology and Physiology

• Kyle Alfred: Layer-by-Layer Nanofabrication to Orchestrate Interplay between Macrophages and Stem/Progenitor Cells
• Michelle Bernstein: The Impact of Pre-operative Extramammary Findings in Patients with Newly Diagnosed Breast Cancer
• Jonathan Chen and Jamila K. Martin: Disease Modeling and Therapeutic Interventions for Ultra-Rare X-linked, HNRNPH2-Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder (Bain Syndrome)
• Brandon Chin: Evaluation of Amyloid-like FadA Production in Various Strains of Fusobacterium nucleatum
• Kayla Gorelick: Interaction Between Alveolar Bone Loss and SARS-CoV-2 Infection
• Brynn Gwartzman: Incidence of ‘Drop-Off’ Cancer Development within the Oral Cavity
• Maya Jeremias: Hydrophilic Polydopamine (hPDA) Incorporated Fibrin Bio-Adhesive for Improved Healing of Fibrocartilaginous Tissues
• Michael Levit: Post-Menopausal Women Have Region Specific Mandibular Microarchitectural Bone Loss Compared to Pre-Menopausal Controls
• Neil Ming: Dental Manifestations in Individuals with Genetic Neurodevelopmental Disorders
• Julian Mis: Homozygous Nonsense Variant In Macrophage-Expressed Gene 1 (MPEG1)/Perforin-2: A Case Study
• Aaron Naim: The Anti-tumorigenic Role of Cannabinoid Receptor 2 in Colon 2 Cancer: A Study in Mice and Humans
• Saagar Pande: Investigation of Amyloid-like FadA Adhesin by Solid Phase NMR
• Soomin Park: Icariin-releasing 3D-Printed Scaffolds for Cleft Bone Regeneration
• Samantha Schnall: Genome-Wide Profiling to Identify New Signaling Pathways Critical for Cellular Functions During Osteoarthritis Pathology
• Matthew Tiberino: Molecular Characterization of Pain Neurons Expressing TrpV1
• Kristin Woo and Peter Xu: The Neurological Development of Offspring Exposed to Transplacental Infection of Fusobacterium Nucleatum
• Melissa Yap: Periodontal Treatment as a Preventative Measure Against Preterm Birth: A Systematic Review
• Hyerin Yoon: Using Single Cell RNA-seq to Define TMJ Stem/Progenitor Cells in an Inflammatory Niche and Development
• Elen Zhu: Optical Clearing of Dental Hard Tissue for Comprehensive 3D Volumetric Analysis