He has just completed a year as one of the first scholars to
receive a prestigious Young Investigator Award in Translational Research from
the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI), and now Dr.
V. Wallace McCarlie, a PhD candidate at the IU School of Dentistry, has learned
that he will spend yet another year pursuing a second CTSI fellowship,
beginning July 1.
Funded by the National Institutes of
Health, the CTSI supports research efforts throughout Indiana (www.indianactsi.org). The institute has
partnered with Indiana University, Purdue University, and the University of
Notre Dame as well as Eli Lilly & Company and other key community and
business organizations.
A native of Las Vegas and a dental graduate of the University
of Nevada, Las Vegas, McCarlie entered IU’s PhD degree program in Dental
Science in 2007. “I seek to understand how a person’s genetic makeup relates to
oral bacteria that lead to dental caries,” he says. “In other words, I’m
looking at how certain genes make some of us susceptible and some of us
resistant to dental caries.”
The CTSI training positions are designed for students working
in research-intensive multidisciplinary settings. The goal is to promote the
development of careers in translational research.
McCarlie’s research mentor is Dr. Margherita
Fontana, Preventive and Community Dentistry. Co-mentors are Dr. Richard
Gregory, Oral Biology, and former IU professor Dr. James Hartsfield Jr., now of
the University of Kentucky.
McCarlie says he’s enjoying his research for
two main reasons: First, it’s a chance to get to the bottom of a scientific
mystery in an important field of dentistry. “There remain unexplained variables
with regard to dental caries, leading us to understand that the answer is not
purely environmental,” he says. “I have always sought after what’s underneath
it all. So, how our DNA affects what disease we get and how we respond to that
disease, is about as fundamental as you can get.
“Caries is a ubiquitous disease worldwide and,
in many cases, causes severe quality of life issues,” he continues. “To combat
the disease by more fully understanding its nature is something that inspires
me.”
McCarlie’s second reason for choosing this
avenue of study is for the exciting multidisciplinary approach it offers him.
“My research spans the fields of genetics, immunology, microbiology, cariology,
dental medicine, and medicine in general,” he says. “This is the direction
science has gone: If you do not understand multiple fields at some depth, your
understanding of any disease will lack the potential that’s out there. What’s
funny is that since I’ve been working in this research area, more people than I
might have expected have voluntarily told me that they already knew that
genetics played a significant part in the disease.”
McCarlie’s multidisciplinary interests are not
limited to research – they have played out in other ways within the academic
community at large. He’s been very active in organizational work that crosses
the disciplines, including service as chair of IUSD’s Advanced Graduate
Committee and as current vice president of the IUPUI Graduate Student
Organization (GSO), which serves more than 8,000 graduate and professional
students. Also during 2009-2010, McCarlie will chair the IUPUI Review Committee
for Graduate Student Educational Enhancement Grants.
June 30, 2009