To Advance Dental Medicine, CDM Research Looks Beyond Dentistry
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.
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