“Many Opportunities Available to You”

Ann Arbor, MI — March 2, 2012 — “It’s an honor to be back at the School of Dentistry,” said Dr. Martha Somerman as she began her keynote presentation during the School’s annual Research Day, Feb. 22. 

Now director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research/NIH, Somerman was a faculty member at the School from 1991 to 2002.  She was professor and chair of the Department of Periodontics, Prevention, and Geriatrics and also held an appointment as professor of pharmacology at the Medical School.

Somerman gave a standing-room only assembly of students, faculty, administrators, and staff an overview of the NIDCR’s activities that include research collaboration with businesses and universities, including U-M, as well as an outline of ongoing oral health research initiatives.  

Citing advances in technology and the sequencing of the human genome, Somerman said, “the time has never been better to move discoveries from the laboratory to the patient.”  However, she noted that it takes about 14 years, on average, for that to happen.

That’s one reason, she said, the National Institutes of Health created that National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS).  Working with the public and private sectors, the Center is focused on creating and speeding up the delivery of new medicines and medical and dental equipment that help promote human health.

Noting that classroom and clinical education and research will continue to be cornerstones of dental education, Somerman told students, “There are many opportunities available to you.”  She cited a number of research projects in NIDCR’s research portfolio, including the human microbiome project, which is investigating microbes found in the oral cavity, skin, and other parts of the human body and the role the microbes may play in human health and disease. 

Somerman also mentioned public health challenges including investigations into chronic pain.  “Pain affects at least 116 million Americans and costs society between $560 and $635 billion annually,” she said.  “This is an area where comprehensive interdisciplinary approaches are needed to help the public.”  Oral health disparities research has also progressed, Somerman said, “but more needs to be done so the benefits of that research reach everyone.”

NIDCR, one of 27 units that make up the National Institutes of Health seeks to improve the oral, dental, and craniofacial health of the public with an emphasis on research, research training, and the dissemination of health information. 

Oral Cancer/Prostate Cancer Connection?

            Is there a connection between oral cancers and prostate cancer?  Perhaps.  Research to get an answer to that question resulted in Alexandra Forest (D2) winning the Grand Prize at this year’s Research Day.

            Mentored by Dr. Russell Taichman and Yusuke Shiozawa in the Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, and collaborating with Dr. Kenneth Pienta at the Medical School, Forest investigated how metastatic prostate cancer competes with other cells for “space,” especially in bones in the jaw.  Occasionally, metastases in the oral region are the first sign of malignancy.

            Since chemotherapy targets rapidly dividing cells, dormant prostate cancer frequently “hides” until chemotherapy ceases.  When that happens, men treated for localized prostate cancer with a combination of surgery and chemotherapy are often believed to be cancer free.  However, several years later it’s not uncommon for them to learn the cancer is still there but now incurable.

            Prostate cancer, the second leading cause of cancer death in U.S. men after lung cancer, is the most common type of cancer in men over 50, according to the National Cancer Institute.  In 2008, the last year for which statistics are available, 186,000 new cases were reported and 28,600 deaths. 

            Since prostate cancer cells seem to develop in bone, Forest has been researching a strategy that coaxes tumor cells out of the marrow.  Initial results of her research showed the strategy, when used in mice, caused cancer cells to move out of bone marrow so they could be targeted by chemotherapy.  “We hope this strategy interferes with how tumor and stem cells migrate into the bone so the cancer cells then become more susceptible to chemotherapy and ultimately lead to the eradication of the prostate cancer cells,” she said.

            Clinical trials using this strategy are now being explored.

Research Day 2012 Awards

Grand Prize

ADA DENTSPLY Award

Alexandra Forest (D2, Mentor: Russell Taichman)
Targeting the Hematopoietic Stem Cell Niche in Bone-Metastatic Prostate Cancer
  

Undergraduate, DDS, DH, MS/Certificate —

Clinical Application and Technique

First Prize
Ashley Copus and Julia Johnson (DH4, Mentor: Marita Inglehart)
Professional appearance and dental patients’ perceptions of their providers-An exploration
 
Second Prize
William Shin (D3, Mentor: Marita Inglehart)
Health literacy and dental fear – Exploring parents’ responses
 
Third Prize
Sarah Dhuhair
(MS Certificate, Mentor: Giselle Neiva)
Clinical evaluation of pH challenge in subjects with/without erosion

Undergraduate, DDS, DH, MS/Certificate —

Basic Science and Research

First Prize
Alexandra Plonka (D3 Mentors: William Giannobile, Peter Ma)
Nanosphere-released tetracyclines inhibit MMP activity of human gingival fibroblasts

Second Prize
Daniela Garcia (MS Certificate, Mentor: Peter Yaman)
Polimerization shrinkage and hardness of three bulk fill flowable resins

Third Prize
Robert Schneider (MS Certificate, Mentor: Tatiana Botero)
Effect of white mineral trioxide aggregate on the migration of stem cells from the apical papilla

Dental Hygiene

First Prize
Kaitie Gilbertsonand Cassie Pawloski(DH4, Mentor: Janet Kinney)
Dental hygiene student perceptions of prophylaxis angles

Second Prize
Felecia Billingsand Jessica Humfleet
(DH4, Mentor: Susan Taichman)
Dental hygienists knowledge of breast cancer treatments on oral health

Third Prize
Jenna Sherwood and Elyse Corley (DH4, MentorWendy Kerschbaum)

Patient’s perceptions of oral cancer screenings

  PhD/Postdoctoral Fellow/Staff

First Prize

James Corson (Postdoctoral Fellow, Mentor: Robert Bradley)
Biophysical, morphological, and synaptic properties of intramedullary projection neurons in the rostral nucleus of the solitary tract

Second Prize
Christopher Wilson (Postdoctoral Fellow, Mentor: Renny Franceschi)
Patterning the expression of regenerative transgenes with focused ultrasound

Third Prize
Sara Corson (Postdoctoral Fellow, Mentor: Charlotte Mistretta)
Neuropilin 1, Neuropilin 2 and calbindin expression in the developing rat solitary tract and rostral nucleus of the solitary tract

Audience Choice Award

Kathryn Selby and Janet Zulacha (DH4, Mentor: Darlene Jones)
Capuchin Soup Kitchen