To Advance Dental Medicine, CDM Research Looks Beyond Dentistry

Dr. Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic at Birnberg Research Day

The most powerful innovations often develop outside the boundaries of any single academic field, which is why the Columbia University College of Dental Medicine puts special emphasis on interdisciplinary research. This year, the CDM 2019 Birnberg Research Day on April 10 and research awards ceremony on April 29 cast a spotlight on that work.

Birnberg Day kicked off with a keynote lecture by the bioengineer Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, PhD, University Professor and the Mikati Foundation Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University. Her title of University Professor, the highest academic honor at Columbia, reflects the breadth of her collaborations across the university. Dr. Vunjak-Novakovic leads teams of researchers, including engineers, physicians, dentists, and other scientists to perform a once seemingly-impossible feat: They engineer human and animal tissue and organs.

Dr. Vunjak-Novakovic and her team have created living heart tissue, functional lungs, and in collaboration with a CDM oral surgeon, built a jawbone that, once implanted, became part of the existing tissue.

Students present posters at 2019 Birnberg Research Day poster session

Anjali Dave discusses her research, the "Link between Oral Lichen Planus and Systemic Diseases," at the Birnberg Rearch Day Poster Session. Dave, who was mentored by Dr. Elizabeth Philipone, won the American Association of Dental Research's prestigious award, the Student Competition for Advancing Dental Research and its Application.

 The rapt audience filled Alumni Auditorium, and many stayed on to watch a panel discussion on the future of tissue regeneration at the College of Dental Medicine, followed by student research poster presentations.

Student research was similarly interdisciplinary. Projects aimed to repair tendon and cartilage. Others traced links between oral and systemic diseases, applied population health concepts to oral health issues, or sought the genetic basis for cleft lip and palate.

The Mentor of the Year Award, which honors an outstanding faculty mentor, went to Wendy Chung, MD, PhD, a clinical and molecular geneticist and the Kennedy Family Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine, who mentored students seeking to connect oral and craniofacial conditions to their genetic roots. (The full list of awards follows the story.) The Post-Doc Award went to Solamiman Tarafder, now an associate research scientist in the lab of Chang Lee, PhD, associate professor of craniofacial engineering.

The range of projects and variety of fields involved in student research showcased one of CDM’s greatest strengths: robust student participation in research. 

It also reflected a larger university strength which Dr. Vunjak-Novakovic noted. 

“The medical center and engineering schools are both amazing. With everything under the same roof, it gives you a special advantage.” The variety of expertise across the campuses helped encourage creativity and exploration. At CDM, that spirit of scholarly inquiry is at the heart of the school, and is helping to define its future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2019 Birnberg Research Awards

BASIC & TRANSLATIONAL SCIENCE

First Place Award – ASHLEIGH ALEX (Chang Lee)

"Determination of Small Molecule Toxicity on Tendon Stem Cells"

 

Second Place Award – DAVID LANGFORD (Chang Lee)

"Improved Bio-Glue for Fibrocartilage Healing by Recruiting Endogenous Stem/Progenitor Cells"

Honorable Mention – MALLORY MORSE MOREL (Mildred Embree)

"Inducible Injury Model of TMJ Inflammatory Arthritis"

 

AADR/SCADA Competition 2019 Student Clinician Award

ANJALI DAVE (Elizabeth Philipone)

"The Link between Oral Lichen Planus and Systemic Diseases"

 

Oral/Public Health National Conference

SOCIAL/BEHAVIORAL, EDUCATION, GERIATRICS, HEALTH SERVICES, GLOBAL ORAL HEALTH

First Place Award – BOBBY LIN (Wendy Chung)

Cases in Precision Medicine: The Role of Pharmacogenetics in Precision Prescribing

 

Second Place Award – THOMAS HOOPES (Lynn Tepper)

The Effect of New York’s Medicaid Dental Benefit Policy Changes on the Demographics and HLD Index of Patients Approved for Orthodontics Treatment

 

Third Place Award – ADAM ELLENTHAL (Kavita Ahluwalia)

Implementing and Evaluating Oral Health Education for Nurses, Nursing Students, and Physicians in Bwindi, Uganda

 

Best Postdoctoral Research Poster Presentation

 

Postdoctoral Residency – Prosthodontics

First Place Award – PENNY PLANZOS (Anthony Randi)

Conical Implant Abutment Repositioning after Dynamic Cyclic Loading and Relation to Screw Torque Reduction. A Pilot Study

 

Postdoctoral Residency – Periodontics

Second Place Award – DANIELA GURPEGUI ABUD (Philip Kang)

Treatment of Periodontal Disease with Conventional Mechanical Debridement and Er:YAG Laser. Randomized Split Mouth Clinical Trial

 

Postdoctoral Residency – Pediatrics

Third Place Award – ALINA O’BRIEN (Aaron Myers)

Changes in the Prevalence of Caries among Disadvantaged 3 to 4 year old Children

WILLIAM JARVIE RESEARCH SOCIETY

MENTOR OF THE YEAR AWARD

 

DR. WENDY CHUNG

Kennedy Professor of Pediatrics (in Medicine)

Department of Pediatrics Molecular Genetics

 

WILLIAM JARVIE RESEARCH SOCIETY

RESEARCH SCIENTIST/POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW OF THE YEAR AWARD

 

DR. SOLAIMAN TARAFDER

Associate Research Scientist in Dental Medicine

Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery