Dr. Brian H. Clarkson

New AADR President Brian Clarkson Addresses Research Day Gathering

Hundreds of IU School of Dentistry faculty, staff, and students gathered at the school on April 9 for the 16^th annual Research Day program, which featured incoming American Association for Dental Research President Dr. Brian Clarkson as keynote speaker.

Clarkson, who was installed as president of the AADR at the association’s annual session in Dallas earlier this month, delivered an address on the topic of cariology titled "A Cariologist and/or The Wizard of Oz."

Clarkson is the Clifford T. Nelson Professor of Dentistry in the University of Michigan’s Department of Cariology, Restorative Sciences, and Endodontics, and a former chair of the department. He is a dental graduate of the University of Leeds, England, and a pediatric dentistry graduate of the University of Iowa. He also holds a master’s degree from the University of Rochester, New York, and a Ph.D. from the University of London.

In addition to serving as keynote speaker, Clarkson was given an opportunity during his IUSD visit to get acquainted with some of the school’s researchers during informal group sessions prior to the event.

The school once again welcomed the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company as Research Day’s Corporate Sponsor, and Delta Dental as the Associate Corporate Sponsor. More than 20 companies and associations contributed to the event as exhibitors.

Research Day is co-produced by the IU School of Dentistry and the Indiana Section of the American Association for Dental Research. Overseeing this year’s event was IN-AADR President Dr. Andréa Ferreira Zandoná, associate professor of preventive and community dentistry.

Complementing Clarkson’s talk were 57 poster presentations by IUSD faculty, staff, and students, including two special group-poster presentations by eight researchers associated with the school’s new Tobacco Cessation and Biobehavioral Center.

During the awards program, 15 individuals were honored for their efforts in research and teaching (listed below).

Research Day’s abstracts, including those of the award-winning posters, are available in the online Research Day monograph: http://www.iusd.iupui.edu/?fwlink=rd2008.

IUSD Alumni Association Distinguished Faculty Award for Teaching

Elizabeth Hughes
Clinical Associate Professor of Dental Hygiene

Professor Elizabeth Hughes, A.S., B.S., M.S., joined IUSD as a part-time faculty member in 1994 and accepted a full-time appointment in 2001.

She currently teaches in seven courses and has routinely received high evaluations from her students. In 2002, Hughes received a $3,000 Network of Excellence in Teaching Grant from the IUPUI Office of Professional Development to develop new clinical competencies in dental hygiene.

She recently created a biweekly dental hygiene clinical faculty newsletter that enhances communication and calibration amongst the faculty. To further enhance the hygiene calibration efforts, she organized, developed, and implemented a series of workshops for all faculty in the Department of Periodontics and Allied Dental Programs.

In 2000, Hughes founded the Indiana Dental Hygiene Educators Association, an organization that has given faculty from all of the state’s dental hygiene programs an opportunity to interact. Her engagement in the American Dental Education Association has included a term as chair of ADEA’s Section on Dental Hygiene Education.

Hughes is a past president of Theta Chapter of Sigma Phi Alpha national dental hygiene honor society, and is currently president of the IUSD Faculty Council.

IUSD Alumni Association Distinguished Faculty Award for Research

E. Angeles Martínez-Mier
Associate Professor of Preventive and Community Dentistry

An IU faculty member since 2000, E. Angeles Martínez-Mier, D.D.S., M.S.D., Ph.D., has rapidly developed a very solid research record at IUSD with funding from a variety of sources, including two grants from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research.

Martínez-Mier’s research interests include developing improved techniques for fluoride analyses, refining methodologies to diagnose dental fluorosis, and conducting community-based studies on disparities in dental caries and dental fluorosis in Latino patients. She has made important contributions to the scientific literature that have established her national and international stature as a fluoride researcher.

She has clearly demonstrated her ability to successfully collaborate with a wide range of investigators at IU, and in particular with researchers nationally and internationally. She has established strong ties to researchers in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Europe.

Most recently, Martínez-Mier received funding to create the IUPUI Binational/Cross-Cultural Health Enhancement Center through the campus’s new Signature Center program. This interdisciplinary center conducts research to address health factors in Latino native and immigrant populations through an international collaboration with Hidalgo, Mexico, one of IUSD’s service-learning sites.

RESEARCH DAY AWARD RECIPIENTS: POSTERS, MANUSCRIPTS,
AND OVERALL EXCELLENCE IN PREDOCTORAL RESEARCH

Back, from left: Rodrigo Viecilli, Daniel Alge, Matthew Rasche, Stephen Powell, Linh Vu
Front: Brooke Shank, Vivian Wahaidi, Neetha Santosh, Erin Coleman, Tamara Smith, Rachel Dunlop, Cynthia Budyn
Not pictured: Grace Santa Cruz

Cyril S. Carr Dental Student Research Scholarship:
(for Overall Excellence in Research at the Predoctoral Level)
S. Brooke Shank
4th yr dental student

Ms. Brooke Shank has been involved in research in the IU School of Dentistry’s molecular genetics laboratory since 2005. In addition to pursuing her own research, she has instructed others in the laboratory, including MSD students, in techniques used in the lab for them to apply to their projects.  Shank represented IUSD at the 2006 University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Dentistry’s Hinman Student Research Symposium in Memphis, and she was a co-presenter of a poster at the 2007 American Association of Dental Research/International Association of Dental Research meeting in New Orleans. Shank is a past president of the IUSD Student Research Group.

Sunstar Butler Staff Award for Research Excellence:
Cynthia Budyn
Visiting Research Associate, Department of Oral Biology
Poster #4: AxiUm to Facilitate Research: Characterizing Tobacco Use in IUSD Patients

Procter & Gamble Undergraduate Student Award:
Linh Vu
IUPUI Student
Poster #42: Contamination of Handpieces during Pulpotomy Therapy on Primary Teeth
Faculty mentor: Judith Chin, Department of Pediatric Dentistry

IUSD Student Research Group Award:
(Johnson & Johnson, sponsor)
1^st Place
Stephen Powell
2^nd yr dental student
Poster #22: Effect of Etching on Laser Fluorescence Values in Sealants
Faculty mentor: Armando Soto-Rojas, Department of Preventive and Community Dentistry

IUSD Student Research Group Award:
(Johnson & Johnson, sponsor)
2^nd Place
Matthew Rasche
3^rd yr dental student
Poster 45: In-Vitro Determination of Contamination of Low-Speed Handpieces
Faculty mentor: Judith Chin, Department of Pediatric Dentistry

Procter & Gamble Award for Excellence in Preventive Oral Health Care:
1^st Place
S. Brooke Shank
4^th year dental student
Poster #27: Correlation of an OPN SNP with External Apical Root Resorption
Faculty mentor: James Hartsfield Jr., Department of Orthodontics and Oral Facial Genetics

Procter & Gamble Award for Excellence in Preventive Oral Health Care:
2^nd Place
Tamara Smith
3^rd yr dental student
Poster #24: In-Vitro Remineralization Effect of MI Paste in Enamel Lesions
Faculty mentor: Margherita Fontana, Department of Preventive and Community Dentistry

American Dental Association/Dentsply International Student Clinician Award:
1^st Place
Rachel Dunlop
2nd yr dental student
Poster #43: Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Present on Dental Student Laptop Computers
Faculty mentor: Michael Kowolik, Department of Periodontics and Allied Dental Programs

American Dental Association/Dentsply International Student Clinician Award:
2^nd Place
Erin Coleman
3^rd yr dental student
Poster #15: The Antimicrobial Effect of a Copper-Containing Sealant
Faculty mentor: Margherita Fontana, Department of Preventive and Community Dentistry

Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company Graduate Student Award:
Grace Santa Cruz
Master’s degree candidate in Biomedical Engineering
IUPUI Department of Biomedical Engineering
(School of Engineering and Technology)
Poster #38: Effects of Powder to Liquid Ratio on Novel DCPD Cement
Faculty mentor: Tien-Min Gabriel Chu, Department of Restorative Dentistry

Trident Award for Innovation in Oral Care Research:
(Cadbury Schweppes Americas Confectionary, sponsor)
1^st Place
Rodrigo Viecilli
Ph.D. degree student in Dental Science
Poster #48: Orthodontic Mechanotransduction and the Role of the P2X7 Receptor
Faculty mentor: Thomas Katona, Department of Orthodontics and Oral Facial Genetics

Trident Award for Innovation in Oral Care Research:
(Cadbury Schweppes Americas Confectionary, sponsor)
2^nd Place
Daniel Alge
Ph.D. degree student in Biomedical Engineering
Purdue University (West Lafayette)
Poster #31: Degradation Characteristics of a Novel DCPD Cement Made from MCPM/HA
Faculty mentor: Tien-Min Gabriel Chu, Department of Restorative Dentistry

Maynard K. Hine Award for Excellence in Dental Research:
(for Best Research Manuscript)
1^st Place
Vivian Wahaidi
Ph.D. degree student in Dental Science
Manuscript: Racial Disparity in the Neutrophil Response to Dental Plaque
Adviser: Michael Kowolik, Department of Periodontics and Allied Dental Programs
Co-authors: S. Dowsett, G. Eckert, M. Kowolik

Maynard K. Hine Award for Excellence in Dental Research:
(for Best Research Manuscript)
2^nd Place
Rodrigo Viecilli
Ph.D. degree student in Dental Science
Manuscript: Orthodontic Mechanotransduction and the Role of the P2X7 Receptor
Adviser: Thomas Katona, Department of Orthodontics and Oral Facial Genetics
Co-authors: T. Katona, J. Chen, J. Hartsfield Jr., W.E. Roberts

Indiana Dental Association Postdoctoral Fellow Award:
Neetha Santosh
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Oral Biology
Poster #56: Expression of Matrix Metalloproteinases during Axolotl Limb Regeneration
Faculty mentor: Fengyu Song, Department of Oral Biology

April 10, 2008