UNRAVELING BIOFILMS - Penn Dental Medicine

Transcription

PDMJ
PENN DENTAL MEDICINE JOURNAL | SPRING 2014
UNRAVELING
BIOFILMS
EMPLOYING UNIQUE APPROACHES
AND NOVEL THERAPIES TO TARGET
BIOFILMS AND TOOTH DECAY
Shaping the Future of Care
WITH EACH ACADEMIC YEAR, Penn Dental Medicine further
shapes the future of care through our accomplished graduating
students, who invariably excel across all fields of dental medicine.
To the Class of 2014, congratulations as you take the next step, and
to our devoted faculty, staff, and alumni, thank you for all you do
in support of our students and the School’s mission.
Setting a course that looks to the School’s future growth and
leadership is our responsibility as stewards of this great institution.
Whether it be through our research, scholarship, curriculum, student
opportunities, or our educational and clinical resources, our goal
is to create an environment that advances not only the academic
experiences of our students, but also the science and practice of
dental medicine.
On that path, faculty recruitment continues to add depth to
the School’s research enterprise. As we announced in the fall, we
welcomed Dr. Michel Koo as Professor in the Department of
Orthodontics this September. In this issue, we introduce you to the
exciting work of his lab, which focuses on building our understanding
of biofilms, particularly cariogenic biofilms, and possible therapeutics
against them (see story, page 10).
Within our academic programs, we continue to expand students’
learning opportunities through a growing honors program (see story,
page 22) and a new dual degree, now offering a Masters in Translational
Research through Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, the seventh
dual degree with other Penn schools (see story, page 3).
Setting a course that looks
to the School’s future growth
and leadership is our
responsibility as stewards
of this great institution.
And we are moving our preclinical instruction forward with
state-of-the-art advanced simulation that is leading the field through
the use of haptic technology (see story, page 38), becoming the first
school in the country to integrate this type of virtual reality into the
curriculum. These advanced simulation units are among the first
steps in our plans for a major transformation of facilities within the
historic Evans Building. Plans that include a new space for this
advanced simulation lab, a new primary care clinic, a new preclinical
lab and CE training center, a new library, and new student spaces
and administrative offices—a renaissance of this landmark structure,
which will mark the centennial of its dedication next year, and a
project vital to the School’s ongoing strength and growth.
Through the support and engagement of the entire Penn Dental
Medicine community, Penn Dental Medicine continues to move forward
on many fronts, and in turn, continues to be a leader in shaping the
future of dental education, research, and patient care. Thank you for
your shared commitment to the future of the School, our students,
and dental medicine.
Denis F. Kinane, BDS, PhD
Morton Amsterdam Dean
INSIDE
10
2
9
16
17
27
33
Unraveling Biofilms:
Employing Unique
Approaches to Target
Biofilms and Tooth Decay
On Campus
School News Briefs
Faculty Q&A
Sharing Personal & Professional Paths
22
42
44
With Honors:
Honors Degree
Program Offers Valuable
Student Experiences
Class Notes
News from Fellow Alumni
PENN DENTAL MEDICINE JOURNAL: Vol. 10, No. 2
University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine
www.dental.upenn.edu
In Memoriam
Remembering Members of the
Penn Dental Medicine Community
Dean: Denis F. Kinane, BDS, PhD
Associate Dean for Development and Alumni Relations:
Maren Gaughan
Director, Publications: Beth Adams
Contributing Writers: Beth Adams, Katherine Unger
Baillie, Amy Biemiller, Juliana Delany, Debbie Goldberg
Design: Dyad Communications
Photography: Mark Garvin, Peter Olson
Printing: The Pearl Group at CRW Graphics
Faculty Perspective
Views on Dental Topics & Trends
Research Spotlight
Translating Science to Practice
Academic Update
Department/Faculty News & Scholarship
Alumni Highlights
Profiles, Gatherings & Engagement
38
Haptic Technology:
At the Forefront of
Virtual Reality
ON THE COVER: A culture agar plate showing different
microbial species present in the biofilms grown in the
lab of recent recruit Dr. Hyun (Michel) Koo, Professor,
Department of Orthodontics, who has developed new
ways to study biofilms associated with tooth decay
as well as improved anti-biofilm approaches to prevent
cavities.
Penn Dental Medicine Journal is published twice a year
by the Office of Communications for the alumni and
friends of the University of Pennsylvania School of
Dental Medicine. ©2014 by the Trustees of the University
of Pennsylvania. All rights reserved. The views expressed
in this publication are not necessarily those of Penn
Dental Medicine. We would like to get your feedback —
address all correspondence to: Beth Adams, Director of
Publications, Robert Schattner Center, University of
Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, 240 South
40th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6030,
[email protected].
PENN DENTAL MEDICINE JOURNAL | SPRING 2014 1
ONCAMPUS
SCHOOL NEWS BRIEFS
IADR/AADR Gies Award
Recognizes Biological Research
Targeting LGBT
Health Disparities
The research of Penn Dental Medicine’s Dr. George Hajishengallis, Professor,
Department of Microbiology, has been recognized by the International and
American Associations for Dental Research (IADR/AADR) through their
annual IADR/AADR William J. Gies Awards for Biological Research.
Dr. Hajishengallis and collaborators Dr. Richard P. Darveau and Dr. Michael A.
Curtis from the University of Washington and Barts and The London School
of Medicine and Dentistry, respectively, received the 2014 IADR/AADR
William J. Gies Award in the category of biological
research for the paper, “Porphyromonas gingivalis as a
Potential Community Activist for Disease,” J Dent Res.
91: 816-820. The award was presented at the AADR Annual
Meeting & Exhibition in Charlotte, N.C., in March.
An extensive analysis of dental plaque samples over
the years has led to the identification of “red” complex
oral bacteria that have a strong association with each
other and with disease. Consequently, these bacteria
Dr. George Hajishengallis
have been labeled ‘periopathogens’. Studies with one of these bacteria,
Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis), have revealed that it contains several
different mechanisms that either impede or modulate periodontal protective
mechanisms. In a mouse model of periodontitis, it has been shown that modulation of complement function by P. gingivalis facilitates a significant change
in both the amount and composition of the normal oral microbiota. This
altered oral commensal microbiota is responsible for pathologic bone loss in
the mouse. Thus, P. gingivalis creates a dysbiosis between the host and dental
plaque, and this may represent one mechanism by which periodontitis can be
initiated. The authors of this study therefore termed P. gingivalis a keystone
pathogen.
The annual Gies Awards recognize the best papers published in the
IADR/AADR Journal of Dental Research in the preceding year and are presented in three categories: biological research, biomaterials and bioengineering
research, and clinical research.
Penn Dental Medicine is among the
schools/centers on campus to partner with
the Penn Medicine Program for LGBT Health.
This unique and interprofessional program
focuses on improving the health of lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals. Penn Medicine is among just a handful of
academic medical centers in the U.S. to launch
such an initiative across multiple professional
schools and affiliated hospitals, with Penn’s
School of Nursing, Perelman School of Medicine,
Center for Public Health Initiatives, and hospitals
and facilities of the University of Pennsylvania
Health System also participating.
Health disparities and inequalities within
the LGBT community have become increasingly
recognized, but are rarely addressed in today’s
healthcare settings. The Penn Medicine Program
for LGBT Health is focusing on five key areas
to help address these gaps: institutional climate
and visibility, health education, research, patient
care, and outreach. The Penn Medicine
Program for LGBT Health is broad by design
and ranges from improving LGBT patients’
healthcare experiences, implementing new
trainings on LGBT health, fostering collaborations on LGBT research, and improving outreach
to better serve the needs of the LGBT community.
“We are pleased to be part of this interdisciplinary effort to address these important
issues to ensure a climate of inclusion,” says
Dr. Beverley Crawford, Director of Diversity
Affairs at Penn Dental Medicine, who is guiding
the School’s participation in the program.
Already, Penn Dental Medicine has held two
town hall meetings for the School community
as part of the program to begin conversations
on inclusion and equality.
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WWW.DENTAL.UPENN.EDU
New Dual Degree
Students Active at AADR, IADR
Students Justin Kang (D'14), Mehreen
Merchant (D'14), and Jordan Seetner (D'15)
represented Penn Dental Medicine as part of
the general exhibition at the 2014 AADR/CADR
Annual Meeting, presenting posters on their
research at the meeting in March in Charlotte, N.C.
Their projects were “Assaying Endogenous
MMP-2,-8 in Acid Etched Dentinal Cavity Walls”
by Kang, who worked with faculty preceptors
Drs. Markus Blatz and Fusun Ozer of the Department of Preventive & Restorative Sciences;
“Evaluation of a Power Toothbrush for Surface
Roughness Effects” by Merchant, who worked
on this project during her summer research with
Colgate; and “In vitro adherence of Candida
albicans to novel denture base materials” by
Seetner, who worked with Dr. Yuanfu Yi (visiting
scholar in 2012-2013), Dr. Fusun Ozer and Dr.
Markus Blatz of the Department of Preventive
& Restorative Sciences, and Dr. Joseph
DiRienzo of the Department of Microbiology.
TOP HONORS
As part of the AADR meeting, Seetner also
presented his project in the 27th annual
DENTSPLY/Caulk Student Research Group
(SRG) Award Competition for original research,
taking first place in the Clinical Science Category.
Winners were chosen from more than 100
candidates. Among the key findings of Seetner’s
study was that Candida albicans exhibited the
same degree of adherence to both injection
and non-injection resin denture-base materials.
Penn Dental Medicine’s Matthew Oishi (D’15),
also attending the AADR meeting in his role as
DENTSPLY/Caulk Student
Research Group Award
Competition winners were
chosen from more than
100 candidates.
Vice President of the AADR National Student
Research Group (NSRG), presented Seetner
with a certificate for his winning project on
behalf of NSRG.
IADR
Penn Dental Medicine students will also be
participating in the research program at the IADR
meeting this June in Cape Town, South Africa.
Jordan Seetner will present “Wear behavior of
restorative material against zirconia,” a study he
also conducted with Dr. Blatz. And Chris Kim (D’15)
will present his work on a study with Dr. Francis
Mante, Department of Preventive & Restorative
Sciences, that adopted fracture mechanics, the
standardized fracture testing methodology widely
used in mechanical engineering/material science,
to test dental materials. Kim found that the interfacial fracture toughness of adhesives incorporated
with anti-bacterial agents was heavily dependent
on the extent of its solubility—adhesives that
contain a protic solvent maintained their fracture
toughness while those with an aprotic solvent
became significantly susceptible to fracture.
Building on its interprofessional programs,
Penn Dental Medicine has expanded its dualdegree options to now include a Masters in
Translational Research (MTR) with Penn’s
Perelman School of Medicine. This new dual
degree was officially established with the start
of this academic year. The program is designed
to give students a strong foundation in the
fundamental techniques of translational research
and enable them to apply contemporary
research tools to clinically relevant areas of
investigation, building an understanding of the
complex issues associated with conducting
sound clinical research.
This new degree brings the total number
dual-degree programs at Penn Dental Medicine
to seven. The other programs include a Master
of Bioethics and Master of Public Health with
Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine; a Master
of Science in Bioengineering with the School of
Engineering and Applied Science; a Master of
Education with the Graduate School of Education;
a Master of Business Administration with
Wharton; and a JD degree in law with Penn Law.
“The sheer number of opportunities to
pursue interprofessional education makes
Penn Dental a truly unique institution,” says
Dr. Uri Hangorsky, Associate Dean of
Academic Affairs.
Dr. Kathleen Boesze-Battaglia, Professor,
Department of Biochemistry, and director of
the honors program as well as the research
honors program, was instrumental in implementing the DMD/MTR, with one student
already pursuing this dual degree.
7
number of dual-degree
programs offered at
Penn Dental Medicine
ABOVE: Presenting research at the AADR meeting were
students Justin Kang (D’14), Mehreen Merchant (D’14),
and Jordan Seetner (D’15).
ONCAMPUS
Books, Brushing,
Bedtime
Second-year pediatric resident Stephanie
Rashewsky (GD’14) is on a mission to not only
maintain the oral health of her young patients,
but to build a love of reading and healthy
routines as well. And now through Books,
Brushing, and Bedtime (BBB), an oral health
education and literacy program she developed,
recall visits for early childhood patients in
Penn Dental Medicine’s Pediatric Clinic will
come with a book as well—from “ Elmo—
Ready, Set, Brush!” to “Cassandra Gets Her
Smile Back.”
The idea was born when Rashewsky
completed her outpatient medicine rotation
at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and was
introduced to a similar program there called
Reach Out Read (ROR). Excited by the project,
she contacted the ROR headquarters with the
“Multiple studies have shown
that the first five years of
life are a critical window for
learning, rapid brain development, and the opportunity
to establish healthy behaviors. We want our pediatric
dental patients to have the
educational tools that they
need to be successful.”
— STEPHANIE RASHEWSKY, GD’14
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STUDENT PROFILE:
STEPHANIE RASHEWSKY, GD’14
intent of introducing it within the School’s
Pediatric Clinic, only to learn that it was available
solely to pediatricians. Still motivated to bring
this type of project to Penn Dental Medicine,
Rashewsky decided to create her own program,
piloting BBB in January and launching the full
project in April.
“I am not sure if it is because I am the
daughter of a teacher, or if it is the childhood
memories that I have of my parents reading to
me at bedtime, but the benefits of ROR really
resonated with me,” she says. “I believed that
as pediatric dentists we were in an even better
position to encourage reading at bedtime
because we see children more frequently than
pediatricians for six-month recall visits. Plus,
we already utilize the recall appointments for
guidance about oral hygiene, diet, etc., so I
thought that these visits would be a perfect
opportunity to encourage reading and tooth
brushing.”
The project involves giving an ageappropriate, dental-relevant book to children
between the ages of 1 to 5 years at six-month
recall visits to reinforce healthy bedtime routines
—tooth brushing and reading. A wide selection
of books have been purchased—nearly $5,000worth to date—for three age categories within
that one-to–five-year age range; they are given
out by residents or the dental assistants to the
children and parents while the children are still
in the dental chairs after their exams. “We try
to read at least half the book with them so the
children and parents are encouraged to see
how to be interactive with the book’s content
—to touch the toothbrush or count the teeth—
to reinforce the concepts,” says Rashewsky.
BBB is starting with 50 patients, however
Rashewsky notes that once they collect data
(they are surveying parents whose children
receive the books using a survey modeled on
the ROR program survey) they would like to
open it up to all children in the clinic between
the ages of 1 and 5. “Each child would receive
a book at every six-month recall visit, for a
maximum of nine books by the time they enter
kindergarten,” says Rashewsky. “Multiple
studies have shown that the first five years of
life are a critical window for learning, rapid
brain development, and the opportunity to
establish healthy behaviors. We want our
pediatric dental patients to have the educational tools that they need to be successful.”
Predoctoral students are getting involved
in BBB as well. Books have been purchased for
the waiting area and predoctoral students will
be volunteering to read to children waiting for
their appointments. In addition, a portion of
the Dental Trade Alliance Foundation Grant
supporting the project has been allocated to
publishing a children's book with a dental
message. Geared to toddlers and titled
"Brushtime, Bedtime," it is being written by
Ashley Abraham (D’16), Kelby Okada (D’16),
and Giselle Galanto (D’15) with illustrations
by Liz Freund (D’16). Funding for BBB is also
being provided by a 2013-14 ADA Samuel D.
Harris Fund for Children’s Dental Health Grant.
Rashewsky is getting recognition beyond
Penn Dental Medicine for BBB, having received
the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry
Resident Recognition Award this year for the
project. She was one of two winners nationwide selected for the Fall/Winter cycle. The
award recognizes pediatric dental residents
doing innovative and interesting activities in
the field of patient care, research, teaching/
education, and/or community service.
“The commitment and energy Stephanie
has brought to this project are tremendous,”
says Dr. Rochelle Lindemeyer, Director of the
Pediatric Residency Program. “It is our hope
that this pilot project will plant the seeds for
expanding her idea to other institutions.”
“By promoting literacy
through BBB at our dental
visits, we believe that we
will be encouraging positive
oral health and literacy
behaviors for life.”
— STEPHANIE RASHEWSKY, GD’14
Rashewsky is pleased BBB will thrive at
Penn Dental Medicine beyond her graduation
this year with first-year pediatric resident
Jessica Lee continuing the project as part of
her research requirement. “We hope this will
be an ongoing project in our clinic,” says
Rashewsky. “These interactions that young
children have with literacy and the adults in
their lives are the building blocks for language,
reading, and writing development. By promoting
literacy through BBB at our dental visits, we
believe that we will be encouraging positive
oral health and literacy behaviors for life.”
Pediatric Residency Program
Doubles in Size
Penn Dental Medicine has doubled the number of residents accepted into its
Pediatric Residency Program each year, growing from two to four students.
The new class of residents, which starts in July, will be the first at this
increased size.
“This is a move we have wanted to make for some time. Four to five residents
per year is the average size of other residency programs across the country.
With the size of our School and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP),
this was a natural
step, especially given
that we have the
patient pool to support a larger program,” says Dr. Betty
HarokopakisHajishengallis, Director of the Division of Pediatrics. “We will be able to
manage more cases, which translates into greater experience and knowledge
for our students.”
Dr. Rochelle Lindemeyer, Director of the Pediatric Residency Program,
adds that the increased class size responds to the great interest in the School’s
highly competitive program. “We routinely get over 140 applicants each year.
There is big interest in our program,” she says. “With the variety of cases we
have and our affiliation with CHOP, the Program offers a great educational
opportunity for our residents.”
The residents conduct all outpatient
care at the School’s Pediatric Clinic and
provide inpatient consultation and
emergency service for CHOP; residents
also provide care for those children
needing sedation or general anesthesia
at CHOP.
Plans are underway to expand the School’s Pediatric Clinic to accommodate
the growing residency class and increased patient load. An additional six chairs
will be added in an open bay setting along with a residents’ room.
“We are excited about this expansion of our program,” adds Dr. HarokopakisHajishengallis, “and see an ongoing potential for growth.”
140
approximate number of
applicants to the Pediatric
Residency Program each year
ONCAMPUS
CE Symposia Slated for Fall 2014
Penn Dental Medicine will present two multi-day continuing education symposia this coming fall. The first—ARONJ: An Update—will be held October 2425 at the Smilow Center for Translational Research, followed by Endodontic
Retreatment: Surgical/Non-surgical Management on November 8-9 at the
Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. Both symposia, produced through
the School’s Office of Continuing Education, are appropriate for general dentists and specialists alike.
ARONJ: AN UPDATE
Bisphosphonates, a class of drugs that prevent
the loss of bone mass, are used to treat a variety
of bone dissolution disorders—from osteoporosis
and Paget’s disease to bone loss due to cancer.
While these anti-resorptive medications can
offer effective therapies, several have been
associated with osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ)
with a broad health impact and economic burden.
The symposium will address
gaps in the understanding
of how anti-resorptive drugs
may interfere with immune
function, wound healing,
and bone repair, and explore
how to bridge these findings
in the development of new
prevention and intervention
strategies for ARONJ.
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This symposium is built on the multidisciplinary interaction between the different
specialties engaged in research and clinical
management of anti-resorptive-drug-induced
osteonecrosis of the jaw (ARONJ) patients;
Penn Dental Medicine’s Dr. Anh Le, Chair of
the Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery/
Pharmacology, and Dr. Thomas Sollecito, Chair
of the Department of Oral Medicine, are developing the program, which will feature speakers
from Penn Dental Medicine, Penn Medicine,
and other leading experts on the topic nationwide. Dr. Sook-Bin Woo, Associate Professor
of Oral Medicine, Infection, and Immunity at
Harvard School of Medicine, and Director of
Clinical Affairs, Division of Oral Medicine and
Dentistry, at Brigham and Women's Hospital,
Boston, will be the keynote speaker.
The symposium will address gaps in the
understanding of how anti-resorptive drugs
may interfere with immune function, wound
healing, and bone repair, and explore how to
bridge these findings in the development of
new prevention and intervention strategies for
ARONJ. The full program of topics and speakers
for this October 24-25 event, along with
registration information, can be found at
www.dental.upenn.edu/ARONJ2014.
ENDODONTIC RETREATMENT:
SURGICAL/NON-SURGICAL
MANAGEMENT
This two-day program, organized by the
Department of Endodontics with Dr. Syngcuk
Kim, Louis I. Grossman Professor, serving as
the symposium director, features Penn Dental
Medicine endodontic faculty, alumni, and
clinicians from around the world.
The topics presented will range from
endodontic pathology to endodontic surgical
and non-surgical techniques. Along with lectures,
there will be a live patient demonstration of
mandibular-molar surgery under the microscope, telecast in 3D. Attendees also have the
option of participating in hands-on workshops
to be held November 7, the day before the
symposium; they will be presented in three
different areas—microscope non-surgical
retreatment, advanced microendodontics
from theory to practice, and microsurgical
endodontics. The full program of topics and
speakers for this November 8-9 event can be
found at www.dental.upenn.edu/endoretreat2014.
Penn Dental Medicine is an ADA CERP
provider of continuing education with tuition
discounts for Penn Dental Medicine alumni
and faculty, as well as students. For more
information on these and other continuing
education programs, contact Pamela Rice,
Director of Continuing Education,
215-573-6841, [email protected].
Advancing New Clinical Research
A new avenue of support for clinical research within Penn Dental Medicine launched this academic
year with the first Schoenleber Pilot Grants awarded in support of seven new projects. Funded by
the Penn Dental Medicine Schoenleber Fund, the grants provide up to $20,000 for one year for
pilot clinical research projects, with priority given to those studies that also involve collaborations
across basic science and other clinical disciplines.
“The purpose of the grants is to fund innovative research—to seed projects that encourage
collaboration and can also lead to extramural funding,” says Dr. Dana Graves, Vice Dean for
Research and Scholarship and Chairman of the recently formed Clinical Basic Research Advisory
Committee, which selected the grant recipients.
The Advisory Committee, consisting of members of the School’s Board of Overseers, was
established to not only evaluate clinical research projects eligible for seed funding through the
Schoenleber Fund, but also to provide input on clinical research projects in their formative
stages, to offer peer feedback on collaborative projects with other schools within the University,
and to provide input on strategic initiatives involving both basic or clinical research at the School.
Along with Dr. Graves and Morton Amsterdam Dean Denis Kinane, the Committee includes
Board of Overseers Dr. William DeVizio, Vice President for Oral Care Research & Development at
Colgate-Palmolive Company; Dr. Matthew J. Doyle, Director and Senior Researcher, Procter &
Gamble Company; Madeline Monaco, Senior Director of Global Scientific and Professional Affairs,
Johnson & Johnson Consumer and Personal Products Worldwide; and Dr. Lewis E. Proffitt (D’73,
WG’80), as well as Dr. Anh Le, Norman Vine Endowed Professor of Oral Rehabilitation and
Chair, Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery/Pharmacology. This year’s inaugural
Schoenleber Pilot Grants were awarded for the
following projects:
Effects of RANKL on mouse myeloid cells in
orthodontic tooth movement
Principal Investigator (PI) Dr. Chun-Hsi Chung,
Dept. of Orthodontics, with Dr. Dana Graves,
Dept. of Periodontics
Extent of DNA damage in exfoliated oral mucosal
cells following CBCT radiation exposure
PI Dr. Mel Mupparapu, Dept. of Oral Medicine,
with Christine Nadeau, and Dr. Faizan Alawi,
Dept. of Pathology
Correlation Between Defective Lysosome
Maturation and Chronic Periodontitis
PI Dr. Jonathan Korostoff, Dept. of
Periodontics, with Dr. Kathleen BoeszeBattaglia, Dept. of Biochemistry
Inactivation of Matrix Metalloproteinase-8 by
Extracellular Matrix Protection Factor-2 in Dentin
Cavity Walls
PI Dr. Fusun Ozer, Div. of Restorative
Dentistry, with Dr. Markus Blatz, Dept. of
Preventive & Restorative Sciences, Justin Kang,
D’15, Dr. Marina D’Angelo, College of
Osteopathic Medicine, and Dr. Lorenzo
Breschi, University of Trieste, Italy
Streptococcal GtfB as a biomarker for Early
Childhood Caries Activity
PI Dr. Cyelee Kulkarni with Dr. Betty HarokopakisHajishengallis, Div. of Pediatric Dentistry
Growth of Cartilage on Titanium and Zirconia
PI Dr. Francis Mante, Div. of Restorative
Dentistry, with Dr. Kathleen Boesze-Battaglia,
Dept. of Biochemistry, and Dr. Sunday
Akintoye, Dept. of Oral Medicine
Oral Cancer
Walk & 5K Run
Penn Dental Medicine students once
again produced a successful Oral
Cancer Walk & 5K Run, building
awareness of the importance of oral
cancer screenings and raising nearly
$19,600 in support of the Oral Cancer
Foundation. Held March 29, there were
a total of 425 participants, including
110 runners, 145 walkers, 4 oral cancer
survivors, and 166 supporters.
In addition, faculty and residents
from within oral medicine, periodontics,
preventive and restorative sciences,
and community health worked with
students to provide free oral cancer
screenings as part of the event.
Penn Initial Phase Efficiency Study
PI Dr. Yota Stathopoulou, Dept. of
Periodontics, with Dr. Denis Kinane,
Morton Amsterdam Dean
ONCAMPUS
ADEA Scholars
World Views
Penn Dental Medicine students Kari Hexem
(D’15) and Mehreen Merchant (D’14) are
recipients of the 2014 ADEA Preventive
Dentistry scholarship, awarded to 12 students
nationwide who have demonstrated academic
excellence in preventive dentistry and community
health. Both Hexem and Merchant are in Penn
Dental Medicine’s community honors program.
Hexem’s key honors project is working with
Philadelphia FIGHT, the city’s largest provider
The international externship program continues to expand the perspective
of Penn Dental Medicine students as they experience dental education and
practice in far corners of the world. This academic year, 40 fourth-year students
participated in the program, fulfilling their four-week hospital externship
requirements at 10 sites around the globe, observing in clinics and taking part
in seminars and hospital rounds.
Presently, students can select from 18 international externship sites, including
three new sites added this year in Colombia, Sweden, and Sri Lanka. The schools
and countries student visited this academic year include:
12 students
nationwide are awarded the ADEA
Preventive Dentistry Scholarship
Chulalongkorn University Faculty of Dentistry, Thailand
Chung Shan Medical and Dental University, Taiwan
Dental Institute, Sri Lanka
Guy’s-Kings College, United Kingdom
Princess Marina Hospital, Botswana
Seoul National University, South Korea
of comprehensive care for people with HIV/
AIDS, to initiate a new dental care program
(see story, page 24); and through her pursuit
of community honors, Merchant has been
helping to provide free dental services to uninsured children through the School’s partnership
with Puentes de Salud, a health clinic in South
Philadelphia. Both were presented with their
scholarships at the 2014 ADEA Annual
Meeting in March.
Hexem was also selected as one of ten
applicants from within the United States and
Canada to participate in the ADEAGies
Foundation/AADR Academic Dental Careers
Fellowship Program (ADCFP) for the 20142015 academic year. ADCFP was created with
the goal of providing students with a window
into the day-to-day experiences of faculty
members in academic dental institutions and
nurture future dental educators. Hexem will
work with Dr. Joan Gluch, Director of
Community Oral Health and Associate Dean
for Academic Policies, in the behavioral science,
public health, and community health programs.
Payal Verma (D’14) participated in ADCFP
this academic year, working with former faculty
member Dr. Andres Pinto on oral medicine
courses and programs.
8
Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan
Universidad El Bosque, Colombia
University of Gothenburg Institute of Odontology, Sweden
University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Penn Dental Medicine also hosted 49 international exchange students this
academic year from 13 different schools.
ABOVE: Five Penn Dental Medicine students completed externships this academic year at Chulalongkorn University
Faculty of Dentistry, Thailand, pictured with students and faculty from the school.
FACULTYQ&A
SHARING PERSONAL & PROFESSIONAL PATHS
WHILE THE PENN DENTAL Medicine community
may know the School’s faculty by the courses
they teach or the research they conduct, this
new Q&A faculty spotlight, which will become
a regularly occurring part of the Penn Dental
Medicine Journal, aims to get a bit more personal
glimpse of them as individuals.
For this first Q&A, we talked with Dr.
Robert Vanarsdall (GD’72, GD’73), Professor,
Department of Orthodontics and Director of
the Orthodontic/Periodontic Residency
Program—a long-time member of the School’s
faculty. Dr. Vanarsdall, who has held the
appointment of Professor since 1993, first
joined the Penn Dental Medicine faculty in
1973 after completing his postdoctoral training
here in both periodontics and orthodontics.
During his tenure, he has also served as Director
of the Orthodontics Residency Program and
Department Chairman.
What have you found most rewarding about
being a member of the Penn Dental
Medicine faculty?
Without a doubt, it is the students. We have a
caliber of student that you simply don't find
anywhere else. Each postdoctoral class has its
own personality, its own character. They challenge
the faculty every day and when they do, you
learn just as much as you teach. It is a true gift
to be a part of a program that does that for you.
What do you view as your greatest
professional accomplishment?
When I was still a student, I came to the
University of Pennsylvania to do a paper. Penn
had the best dental library so it was a natural
resource during my studies. From my very first
visit, I fell in love with the school.
When I returned years later, I had the
privilege of starting the ortho/perio program.
The fact that I had the opportunity to help
shape and advance such an extraordinary
institution—one that I idolized as a student—is
without a doubt my greatest achievement.
So more than any piece of advice, I studied what
it was that they did to inspire me, and I have
worked to emulate that in my own teaching, to
hopefully inspire the next generation of leaders
in our field.
Q&A with
Dr. Robert Vanarsdall
Professor, Department of
Orthodontics; Director,
Periodontic/Orthodontic
Residency Program
What drew your interest to your particular
field and what do you enjoy most about it?
Throughout my undergraduate studies, I was
always fascinated with how people heal. The
more I was exposed to periodontics and
orthodontics, the more I was drawn to the idea
of saving teeth. And that's really where my
passion rests: in looking beyond the cosmetic
value of orthodontics to promoting orthodontics
as part of a total approach to dental health.
What advice from a mentor have you
carried with you in your career?
I wouldn't say it was one specific piece of
advice that stood out, but more of an approach
to teaching that influenced me. When I came
to Penn, I studied under and worked alongside
some of the best—Mort Amsterdam, Walter
Cohen—we had such an exciting group of people.
What excites you most about Penn Dental
Medicine today?
As someone who has been affiliated with the
School for more than 40 years, there are really
two things that stand out for me. First, the
recent physical changes to update the facilities
with state-of-the-art, cutting-edge design,
equipment, and technology—the facilities have
been incredibly improved. Second, our alumni
are the strongest of any program that I know.
And that's important to see because it shows
that they have received something in their
education that they carry with them for the
rest of their careers—they want to continue to
be involved with our program and support Penn.
Schools/degrees?
William and Mary, BA; Medical College of
Virginia, DDS, 1970; Penn Dental Medicine,
postdoctoral certificates in Orthodontics, 1973,
and Periodontics, 1972
If you could have dinner with anyone who
would it be?
Colin Powell
Hobbies?
At home in Philadelphia I always enjoy going
to see the Philly Pops and follow all the sports
teams. Abroad, I love to travel.
Favorite vacation destination?
St. Barths
Best book you've read recently?
Wins, Losses and Lessons by Lou Holtz
“If you understand the principles of how
biofilms assemble and cause diseases,
we can learn how to prevent or disassemble
them effectively.”
—DR. MICHEL KOO
UNRAVELINGBIOFILMS
DR. MICHEL KOO EMPLOYING UNIQUE APPROACHES
TO TARGET BIOFILMS AND TOOTH DECAY
OPPOSITE: Hyun (Michel) Koo, DDS, PhD, joined Penn
Dental Medicine last September as Professor, Department
of Orthodontics. In his lab, Dr. Koo focuses on understanding how pathogenic biofilms cause oral infectious
diseases, particularly dental caries (or tooth decay). He
uses advanced molecular and imaging technologies to
unveil the principles of biofilm assembly on tooth surfaces.
At the same time, he is developing new therapeutic
approaches to target the biofilm at its core—the extracellular matrix-scaffold—using naturally-occurring and
synthetic agents.
OF KOREAN DESCENT, Dr. Hyun (Michel)
Koo was born in Germany, raised in Brazil,
and has worked in the United States for a
decade and a half. As a result, he has mastered
English, Korean, and Portuguese. But that
tally does not include the fact that he is also
fluent in the complementary but distinct
languages of biochemistry, microbiology,
and clinical dentistry.
Now a professor in the Department of
Orthodontics at Penn Dental Medicine, Dr.
Koo’s comfort in many realms has led him to
clinically relevant discoveries in unexpected
places, from the Amazon rainforest, to exotic
fruits and plants, to humble beehives and
cranberries.
The driving force linking these diverse
discoveries is Dr. Koo’s desire to understand
and find treatments against disease-causing
biofilms, the sticky mix of microbes, glue-like
polymers and other materials that affixes
itself to many surfaces. His focus is on the
biofilm known as plaque that accumulates
on the tooth’s surface, leading to breakdown
of enamel and onset of the disease dental
caries, commonly called tooth decay or cavities.
“Our main purpose is to find out how
microbes build up biofilms and cause diseases
and then hopefully find a better way to prevent
them,” he says.
A UNIQUE APPROACH
Dr. Koo’s interest in research emerged as a
dental student in Brazil. While most students
went home for summer vacation, he spent
the breaks in the lab doing research that
stoked his interest in biochemistry and
microbiology. After graduating, he began to
UNRAVELINGBIOFILMS
practice dentistry but maintained a fervent
curiosity that eventually drove him back to
the classroom. But instead of seeking further
dental-specific training, he entered a master’s
program in food science and biochemistry at
the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP),
Brazil—the first dental student ever to do so.
“I thought, the oral cavity is the first
point of entry for everything we consume,”
he says. “I was excited to learn from the fascinating world of food science if there was
anything to be discovered about preventing
oral disease or promoting oral health.”
Working with a mentor (Dr. Yong Park),
Dr. Koo began a search for new substances
that could provide oral health benefits using
biotechnology in the form of microbial
enzymes and plant-food chemistry.
“Sugar is the arch criminal of dental
caries as it fuels harmful bacteria to build up
plaque and make acids that dissolve teeth,”
says Dr. Koo. “We wanted to find specific
microbes in nature that could use this sugar
to produce new types of sugar molecules that
have similar sweetening properties but couldn’t
be metabolized in the oral cavity by bacteria.”
To find these novel sugar-metabolizing
microbes, Dr. Koo collected samples in dozens
of different ecosystems.
“We looked in places from the cleanest,
purest ecosystems like the Amazon rainforest
to rotting food and insects in São Paulo
open markets,” he says.
He amassed an array of more than 3,000
samples and identified a few new microbes
that could produce alternative sweetening
yet non-cariogenic and non-caloric sugars;
some of which are now being developed by
the food industry.
A pull toward unlikely sources for discovery continued in another project Dr. Koo
developed, this time looking at honeybee
hives. Bees seal and protect their hives with
a substance called propolis, which they produce from resins they collect as they visit
a variety of plants. Dr. Koo and colleagues
found that a number of small molecules
isolated from propolis have anti-biofilm
12 WWW.DENTAL.UPENN.EDU
properties. By targeting an enzyme produced
by the main culprit behind dental caries,
the bacterium Streptococcus mutans, the
researchers demonstrated that propolis-derived
compounds could inhibit the formation of
biofilms and the development of dental
caries in rodents.
“Starting with food science and compounds found in nature, we now have a better
understanding of oral diseases, and the basis
of products that could prevent those diseases,”
he says.
BIOFILM ARCHITECTURE IN 3D
Dr. Koo continued his scientific inquiries in
Brazil while earning a Ph.D. in oral biology
(Dr. Jaime Cury, mentor) at FOP-UNICAMP
in a joint program with the University of
Rochester, where he subsequently joined the
faculty. “At Rochester, I had an incredible
opportunity for academic growth, particularly
working with Dr. William Bowen, a worldauthority in dental caries research,” says
Koo. While continuing to look for tooth
decay therapies, he also delved more deeply
into understanding how pathogenic bacteria,
such as S. mutans, assemble plaque biofilms.
Using advanced imaging technology
that allows him to reconstruct a three-dimensional picture of a biofilm, Dr. Koo has found
that the bacteria are able to cluster tightly
together because they are enmeshed in a
matrix comprised of glue-like polymer
molecules and other extracellular materials.
“Biofilms are highly organized microbial
communities, forming a structure almost
like a tissue,” says Dr. Koo. “We show how
the ‘scaffolding’ of the matrix creates a
highly compartmentalized architecture, while
making the biofilms very sticky on the surface.”
In 2012, Dr. Koo and colleagues published
a paper in PLoS Pathogens demonstrating
that not only does the matrix provide a
scaffold and make the biofilm gooey and
sticky, but it also helps to create acidic
microenvironments. By devising a novel
three-dimensional pH-mapping technique,
Dr. Koo showed highly localized, matrix
delineated acidic compartments throughout
the biofilm. These niches of low pH affects
“Our main purpose is to
find out how microbes
build up biofilms and
cause diseases and then
hopefully find a better
way to prevent them.”
—DR. MICHEL KOO
everything from the balance of microorganisms that can thrive inside of them, to the
behavior of S. mutans, to the severity of damage
to tooth enamel that results in cavities.
“Our data offer new avenues for further
elucidation of how cell-matrix interactions
govern the formation of pathogenic biofilms,
while introducing new tools and methods
for biofilm research,” Dr. Koo says.
Dr. Koo’s probing of the matrix structure
and biofilm microenvironment has led to
new ways of thinking about how to prevent
or treat plaque build-up on the teeth. Instead
of solely targeting the bacteria themselves,
Dr. Koo and his team are looking for ways
to degrade or stop matrix production. This
strategy has the added benefit of avoiding
treatment with antibiotics, which some
bacteria can eventually learn to evade.
DEVELOPING NOVEL THERAPIES
Much like his previous explorations in the
Amazon and other ecosystems, Dr. Koo has
continued to look in some unlikely places
for new anti-biofilm compounds to target the
matrix. His investigations have revealed
potentially useful compounds in cranberries
and in the waste product from the wine-making
industry—the leftover grape skin, pulp and
seeds called pomace. Dr. Koo’s research has
shown that molecules found in cranberries
called proanthocyanidins can reduce the
synthesis of polysaccharides in the matrix.
In parallel, Dr. Koo has methodically
examined the bioactivity of each of the foodderived compounds discovered in his lab
to help design an effective therapy against
cariogenic biofilms. He has looked at how combinations of various molecules could synergize,
enhancing the overall therapeutic effect.
In one line of research, Dr. Koo and
colleagues examined the possibility of pairing
the proven standby, fluoride, with newly
discovered anti-biofilm agents. The rationale
was simple yet promising: Fluoride helps to
prevent mineral loss and rebuild tooth mineral
during acid attack, but has limited effects
against bacteria and biofilm formation.
“We thought that including agents that
impair acid production, a terpenoid, and
biofilm matrix build-up, a flavonoid, could
complement and enhance the effectiveness
of fluoride,” Dr. Koo says.
He discovered that the therapeutic effect
of this combination therapy was superior to
that of the potent antimicrobial chlorhexidine
as well as fluoride, effectively reducing the
development of caries disease in an animal
model. Recently, Dr. Koo and colleagues
published a paper in Antimicrobial Agents
and Chemotherapy revealing the mechanisms
by which these food-derived compounds,
together with fluoride, disrupt the assembly
of the biofilm matrix, and enhance the overall
anti-caries activity.
“If you understand the principles of how
biofilms assemble and cause diseases, we can
learn how to prevent or disassemble them
effectively,” Dr. Koo says.
Studying these microbial communities
enmeshed in a polymeric matrix could pave
the way for relevant findings beyond the
mouth—ranging from barnacles on a ship hull
to plaque on heart valves and medical devices—
as biofilms are often associated with many
diseases in humans as well as industrial and
naval issues.
“We always have the idea in mind of
how our research in the oral cavity might have
broader applicability,” Dr. Koo says.
ABOVE: (top) Dr. Koo’s research has shown that
molecules found in cranberries, called proanthocyanidins,
could disrupt the assembly of the biofilm matrix and be
used to develop new therapies against cariogenic biofilms.
(bottom) Prospective anti-biofilm agents are initially
tested in the laboratory using biofilms formed on
hydroxyapatite (a tooth enamel-like material).
OPPOSITE: Biofilm structure is highly complex. Bacterial
‘islets’ or microcolonies (green) are enmeshed and surrounded by an intricate extracellular ‘scaffold,’ known as
matrix (red), which is comprised of polysaccharides and
other materials.
UNRAVELINGBIOFILMS
DISCOVERING A CROSS-KINGDOM
PARTNERSHIP
This knowledge of biofilm architecture and
assembly extends to an important public
health concern. Dr. Koo has a special interest
in a disease that affects children early in life,
called early childhood caries. It involves a
highly destructive and painful form of tooth
decay that affects toddlers, particularly those
from backgrounds of poverty.
“It’s a costly and terrible disease and
very psychologically damaging to kids because
they can’t even smile,” he says. “The tooth
decay can become so severe that treatment
often requires surgery in the operating room.”
Some of Dr. Koo’s latest work, to be
published in the May issue of Infection and
Immunity, aims to identify the factors that
make these infections so virulent in children,
with an eye toward preventing or treating
the disease.
bacterium uses to produce extracellular
polysaccharides from sugar, also binds to
and enables Candida to produce a glue-like
polymer in the presence of sugar. Candida
then uses this same polymer to adhere to
teeth and to bind S. mutans, two abilities it
otherwise lacks.
“The combination of the two organisms
led to a greatly enhanced production of the
biofilm matrix,” Dr. Koo says, “drastically boosting the ability of the bacterium and the fungus
to colonize the teeth, increasing the bulk of the
biofilms and the density of the infection.”
And because of the biofilm’s compartments of low pH, this accumulation led to
greater levels of acid next to the teeth that can
dissolve enamel, leading to cavity formation.
The investigators showed that infection by
S. mutans and C. albicans together doubled
the number of cavities and boosted their
severity several fold in rats.
“Our data offer new avenues
for elucidation of how cellmatrix interactions govern
the formation of pathogenic
biofilms, while introducing
new tools for biofilm research.”
—DR. MICHEL KOO
Though researchers had long known
S. mutans was a primary culprit in the disease,
Dr. Koo and collaborators, as well as other
scientists, probed dental plaque from children
with the disease and almost always found
the fungus Candida albicans together with
high levels of S. mutans. The discovery
piqued Dr. Koo’s interest, because although
C. albicans sticks to the cheek and tongue,
it was not believed to be a common resident
in dental plaque formed on teeth.
“We were puzzled,” Dr. Koo says. “Candida
usually does not associate with S. mutans,
nor does it colonize teeth very effectively.”
The investigators discovered that an
enzyme secreted by S. mutans, which the
“It is an intriguing interaction where a
fungus is converted into a fierce stimulator
of cariogenic biofilm formation,” says Dr. Koo
“Our data will certainly open the way to
test agents to prevent this disease,” Dr. Koo
says, “and, even more intriguing, the possibility
of preventing children from acquiring this
infection.”
NEW HORIZONS
The novelty and merit of Dr. Koo’s work has
been recognized through several awards,
including the IADR Distinguished Scientist
Award and IADR/GSK Innovation in Oral
Care Award, as well as funding from the
National Institutes of Health, the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, and industry.
Having just come aboard Penn Dental
Medicine’s faculty last September, he says
he is honored to be part of what he sees as
“a world-class winning team for research,”
with ample opportunities for cross-disciplinary
collaboration within the School and across the
campus to make new discoveries and to bring
them into clinical use. For example, Dr. Koo is
starting to collaborate with Dr. Henry Daniell,
Professor, Departments of Biochemistry and
Pathology, on a project to investigate the
potential of using his antimicrobial peptides
to control cariogenic biofilms.
Dr. Koo’s recent sabbatical leave in
Dr. Ken Yamada’s lab (a leading scientist in
cell/matrix biology) at NIDCR/NIH brought
new ideas to study biofilms. He’s particularly
interested in taking advantage of the nanotechnology and engineering expertise at
Penn, perhaps utilizing the new Singh Center
for Nanotechnology, located just at the other
end of Penn’s campus from Penn Dental
Medicine. He plans to build on previous work,
in which he has explored strategies for drug
delivery using nanoparticles.
“One of the major challenges of topicallydelivered compounds is rapid clearance of
the agents in the mouth before they have time
to exert their full therapeutic effect,” he notes.
By engineering low-cost and highadhesive nano-carriers, the therapeutics
can be retained for longer periods of time,
increasing drug efficacy. He hopes these
technologies will lead to development of
more-effective therapies against biofilmassociated oral diseases.
At Penn Dental Medicine, Dr. Koo sees
himself able to fully realize the potential of
these and other clinically relevant technologies.
“There are so many ways different disciplines can help us, from biomedical sciences
to nanotechnology to engineering approaches
and Penn’s philosophy is centered in promoting
the integration of knowledge,” he says. “I’m in
the right environment with all the necessary
support to further advance our mission of
conducting innovative research and developing
new therapies to make a difference.”
—By Katherine Unger Baillie
TOP: Members of the Koo Lab, left to right: Jinzhi He, Dr. Yuan Liu,
Dr. Michel Koo, Yong Li, Dr. Lizeng Gao, Dr. Geelsu Hwang,
Dr. Dongyeop Kim.
ABOVE: The 3D architecture of a fungal-bacterial biofilm.
RIGHT: This close-up image of the biofilm illustrates the spatial
relationship between Candida albicans cells and a Streptococcus
mutans microcolony. Yeast (red) and hyphal forms of C. albicans
(blue) are found associated in the periphery of the microcolony
structure (green); specific areas where fungal cells are associated
with the microcolony are highlighted in orange.
FACULTYPERSPECTIVE
VIEWS ON DENTAL TOPICS & TRENDS
Endodontics vs. Implants:
A Modern Clinical Dilemma
DENTAL IMPLANTS are the most important
advancement in dentistry in the 21st century.
However, with an increase in the popularity of
implants, endodontically treated teeth have
been debated by some as inferior to implants
in regard to long-term stability and retention.
Furthermore, there has been a tendency to
take the simplified approach of ‘extraction and
implant;’ but this does not always prove to be
as simple or ethical as some would like to
believe. We should not forget that the ultimate
goal of our profession is keeping one’s dentition
in function throughout a lifetime.
Modern endodontics is fundamentally
different from the past. Modern techniques,
some developed within our own Endodontics
Department, utilize the surgical operating
microscope for better visualization and identification of canals, electrometric length measurement devices for accurate and objective canal
length determination, rotary nickel-titanium
(NiTi) instruments to prepare canals with ease
and better negotiate curved canals, Piezoultrasonic instruments for root end preparation,
improved disinfection protocols, and cone beam
computer tomography for better and accurate
diagnosis and treatment planning.1
Endodontic therapy performed by a properly
trained endodontist following all these advanced
techniques guarantees over 90% positive longterm outcomes.1 Furthermore, failed endodontic
cases can be predictably and successfully
treated by using a new microsurgical approach
of apical surgery, which is fundamentally
different from the “apicoectomy” practiced
and taught in the last century. We now call it
“endodontic microsurgery.” The outcome of
endodontic microsurgery of failed endodontic
teeth with a persistent periapical lesion but
minimum periodontic defects is well over 90%
for long-term follow-ups.2
How about Implants?
The survival rate of implants performed in
many clinical centers supported by industries
is extremely high, over 90%.5 However, this
high survival rate does not reflect the everyday
practice environment. First, in center studies,
if the initial implant fails before loading, that
case would not be counted as a failure. Survival
is counted only after loading. Second, inclusion
and exclusion criteria are so strict that results
of such studies do not reflect the average
population. If volunteers are smokers, have
diabetes, or inferior bone quality, they are not
included in a center study. Thus, actual success
or survival of implants in the general population
would not be 95-96%, but significantly lower,
below 80%.3 If 95% or so is the true survival
rate of implants, why do we see so many
implant failures?
And while the loss of an implant would be
downright failure, how about the significant
loss of bone covering an implant or persistent
peri-implantitis? Regardless, the implant is not
a panacea.
How do the two compare?
Many studies show the comparison between
endodontically treated teeth and implants. No
statistically significant difference was found
between dental implants and endodontically
treated teeth over a period of six years.4 The
same statement is reported in more recently
published meta-analysis of the survival of singletooth-restored dental implants versus restored
endodontically treated teeth.5
In addition, at the University of Minnesota,
all specialists—oral surgeons, periodontists,
and endodontists—compared the long-term
outcome of a matched pair of endodontically
treated teeth and single-tooth implants.3
Seven- to nine-year recalls showed a positive
Contributed By:
DR. SYNGCUK KIM
Louis I. Grossman Professor
Department of Endodontics
outcome of 74% in implants and 84 % in
endodontics. This type of matched pair, longterm study performed at a university without
the support of industries provides more objective
and non-biased results.
Both implant and endodontic therapy
show great outcome rates if the treatments
are appropriately chosen and rendered by well
trained specialists. Both treatment options
should be seen as complementing each other,
not as a competition, and serve the overall
goal in dentistry—providing care that supports
the long-term health and benefit of the patient,
being least invasive, and incorporating function,
comfort, and esthetics. To achieve these goals,
it is important for clinicians to be fully aware
of the truth on the long-term outcome of both
implants and endodontic therapy with an
intention of maintaining natural teeth as long
as possible.
Recent articles published in JADA raised
an important issue.6 The results of the in-depth
systematic review show “… implant survival
rates do not exceed those of compromised but
(continued on page 28)
RESEARCHSPOTLIGHT
TRANSLATING SCIENCE TO PRACTICE
Scholarly Activity
Following is a snapshot by the numbers of the scholarly activity within
the School’s faculty over the past five years (January 2009–December
2013). Listed are the top 20 by their h index* (see definition below) and
the number of research articles published.
# ARTICLES
2009–2013
*H INDEX
2009–2013
Dr. George Hajishengallis,
Dept. of Microbiology
54
18
Dr. Henry Daniell,
Depts. of Pathology & Biochemistry
41
16
Dr. Dana Graves, Dept. of Periodontics
33
14
Dr. Anh Le,
Dept. of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery/
Pharmacology
38
13
FACULTY MEMBER
Dr. Denis Kinane,
Depts. of Periodontics & Pathology
31
13
Dr. Gary Cohen, Dept. of Microbiology
26
13
Dr. Elisabeth Barton,
Dept. of Anatomy & Cell Biology
31
12
Dr. Hyun (Michel) Koo, Dept. of Orthodontics
33
11
Dr. Markus Blatz, Dept. of Preventive
& Restorative Sciences
46
7
Dr. Sunday O. Akintoye, Dept. of Oral Medicine 17
7
Dr. Hydar Ali, Dept. of Pathology
12
7
Dr. Carolyn Gibson, Dept. of Anatomy
& Cell Biology
21
6
Dr. Frank Setzer, Dept. of Endodontics
16
6
Dr. Claire Mitchell, Dept. of Anatomy
& Cell Biology
14
6
Dr. Yan Yuan, Dept. of Microbiology
13
6
Dr. Faizan Alawi, Dept. of Pathology
22
5
Dr. Kathleen Boesze-Battaglia,
Dept. of Biochemistry
17
5
Dr. Kelly Jordan-Sciutto, Dept. of Pathology
12
5
Dr. Bekir Karabucak, Dept. of Endodontics
11
5
Dr. Marjorie K. Jeffcoat, Dept. of Periodontics
9
5
ABOVE: From a recent study of leukocyte adhesion deficiency patients looking at
inflammatory bone loss; published in Science Translational Medicine, by Dr. George
Hajishengallis, Professor, Department of Microbiology (copyright Niki Moutsopoulos
and George Hajishengallis, 2014).
* The h index was developed by J.E. Hirsch, Department of Physics, UCSD, and it
attempts to measure the impact of an individual or department’s scientific research
output. The calculation is based on a list of publications ranked in descending order
by the “times cited” count. As an example, an h index of 20 means there are 20
items that have 20 citations or more each. Hirsch’s full article on the h index can be
found in PNAS 102 (46): 16569-16572 November 15 2005.
These lists were generated using the Scopus database, and the Author IDs found
within that system. Articles published in journals that are not indexed in Scopus,
are not included in the calculation. The articles that were included were published
between January 2009 and December 2013. It should be noted that publication
and citation practices differ among disciplines and specialties.
SPOTLIGHT
High Impact Basic Science Articles
Among the original research articles published within the Penn Dental Medicine basic science departments over the past year, following are the articles
that appeared in journals with the five highest impact factors.*
AUTHORS
ARTICLES
JOURNAL
Kohli, N., Westerveld, D.R.,
Ayache, A.C., Verma, A., Shil, P.,
Prasad, T., Zhu, P., Chan, S.L., Li,
Q., Daniell, H.
Oral Delivery of Bioencapsulated
Proteins Across Blood-Brain and
Blood-Retinal Barriers
Molecular Therapy
7.0
Biochemistry/
Pathology
Kwon, K.-C., Nityanandam, R.,
New, J.S., Daniell, H.
Oral delivery of bioencapsulated
exendin-4 expressed in chloroplasts
lowers blood glucose level in mice
and stimulates insulin secretion in
beta-TC6 cells
Plant
Biotechnology
Journal
6.3
Biochemistry/
Pathology
Guha, S., Baltazar, G.C., Coffey,
E.E., Tu, L.-A., Lim, J.C., Beckel,
J.M., Patel, S., Eysteinsson, T., Lu,
W., O'Brien-Jenkins, A., Laties,
A.M., Mitchell, C.H.
Lysosomal alkalinization, lipid oxidation, and reduced phagosome clearance triggered by activation of the
P2X7 receptor
FASEB Journal
5.7
Anatomy & Cell
Biology
Atanasiu, D., Cairns, T.M.,
Whitbeck, J.C., Saw, W.T., Rao, S.,
Eisenberg, R.J., Cohen, G.H.
Regulation of herpes simplex virus
gB-induced cell-cell fusion by mutant
forms of gH/gL in the absence of gD
and cellular receptors
mBio
5.6
Microbiology
Nuth, M., Guan, H., Zhukovskaya,
N., Saw, Y.L., Ricciardi, R.P.
Design of potent poxvirus inhibitors
of the heterodimeric processivity
factor required for viral replication
Journal of
Medicinal
Chemistry
5.6
Microbiology
*The Impact Factor identifies the frequency with which an average article from a journal
is cited in a particular year. This number can be used to evaluate or compare a journal’s
relative importance to others in the same field. Journal impact factors are reported in
Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports®. The JCR Science Edition, 2012, was used for
these figures.
JOURNAL
IMPACT FACTOR*
DEPARTMENT
High Impact Clinical Science Articles
Among the original research articles published within the Penn Dental Medicine clinical science departments over the past year, following are the
articles that appeared in journals with the five highest impact factors.*
AUTHORS
ARTICLES
JOURNAL
JOURNAL
IMPACT FACTOR*
DEPARTMENT
Ponugoti, B., Xu, F., Zhang, C.,
Tian, C., Pacios, S., Graves, D.T.
FOXO1 promotes wound healing
through the up-regulation of TGF-B1
and prevention of oxidative stress
Journal of
Cell Biology
10.8
Periodontics
Shi, S., Zhang, Q., Atsuta, I., Liu,
S., Chen, C., Shi, S., Le, A.D.
IL-17-mediated M1/M2 macrophage
alteration contributes to pathogenesis
of bisphosphonate-related
osteonecrosis of the jaws
Clinical Cancer
Research
7.8
OMFS &
Pharmacology
Wada, K., Yu, W., Elazizi, M.,
Barakat, S., Ouimet, M.A.,
Rosario-Meléndez, R., Fiorellini,
J.P., Graves, D.T., Uhrich, K.E.
Locally delivered salicylic acid from
a poly(anhydride-ester): Impact on
diabetic bone regeneration
Journal of
Controlled Release
7.6
Periodontics
Pacios, S., Andriankaja, O., Kang,
J., Alnammary, M., Bae, J., De
Brito Bezerra, B., Schreiner, H.,
Fine, D.H., Graves, D.T.
Bacterial infection increases
periodontal bone loss in diabetic
rats through enhanced apoptosis
American Journal
of Pathology
4.5
Periodontics
Alblowi, J., Tian, C., Siqueira,
M.F., Kayal, R.A., McKenzie, E.,
Behl, Y., Gerstenfeld, L., Einhorn,
T.A., Graves, D.T.
Chemokine expression is upregulated
in chondrocytes in diabetic fracture
healing
Bone
3.8
Periodontics
High Impact Review Articles
Among the review articles published by Penn Dental Medicine faculty over the past year, following are the articles that appeared in journals with the
five highest impact factors.*
AUTHORS
ARTICLES
JOURNAL
JOURNAL
IMPACT FACTOR*
DEPARTMENT
Hajishengallis, G., Mantovani, A.,
Moretta, A., Lambris, J.D.
Aegean reflections on innate
immunity
Nature
Immunology
26.2
Microbiology
Kwon, K.-C., Verma, D., Singh,
N.D., Herzog, R., Daniell, H.
Oral delivery of human biopharmaceuticals, autoantigens and vaccine
antigens bioencapsulated in plant cells
Advanced Drug
Delivery Reviews
12.9
Biochemistry
Hajishengallis, G., Chavakis, T.
Endogenous modulators of
inflammatory cell recruitment
Trends in
Immunology
9.5
Microbiology
Stoopler, E.T., Kuperstein, A.S.
Glossitis secondary to vitamin B12
deficiency anemia
CMAJ: Canadian Medical
Association Journal
6.5
Oral Medicine
Stoopler, E.T., Sollecito, T.P.
Temporomandibular disorders
CMAJ: Canadian Medical
Association Journal
6.5
Oral Medicine
SPOTLIGHT
Research Briefs
Following are highlights from the lead faculty investigators of the original research articles
that appeared in journals with the four highest impact factors among those represented by
Penn Dental Medicine faculty scholarly activity over the past year.
FOXO1 PROMOTES WOUND HEALING
THROUGH THE UP-REGULATION OF TGF-β1
AND PREVENTION OF OXIDATIVE STRESS
Journal of Cell Biology (10.8 Impact Factor)
Ponugoti, B., Xu, F., Zhang, C., Tian, C., Pacios, S.,
Graves, D.T.
What were the key objectives of this study?
The events in wound healing are carefully
orchestrated. The concept that we investigated
was that a transcription factor would coordinate
the regulation of events that are needed in
order for wound healing to occur properly.
Based on our previous work, we focused on
the transcription factor FOXO1. Transcription
factors are important in wound healing
because they control the expression of other
genes, which are needed for healing to occur.
What were some of the important techniques
used in the study?
The most important aspect of the study from a
technical standpoint was the deletion of FOXO1
in a single type of cell in vivo. These studies
used a genetically modified mouse in which the
FOXO1 transcription factor was deleted only in
keratinocytes, an epithelial cell type that lines
mucosal and skin surfaces. All of the other cell
types were normal, allowing us to focus on the
impact of deleting FOXO1 only in keratinocytes.
What results were most surprising or of
particular clinical relevance?
When FOXO1 was deleted in keratinocytes
normal wound healing was significantly delayed.
We found that this was largely due to FOXO1
regulation of two very important aspects of
wound healing. The first was that FOXO1 was
needed for keratinocytes to migrate. The second
was that FOXO1 protected the cells during
wound healing from oxidative stress. When
FOXO1 was deleted, keratinocytes did not
migrate as well and suffered damage from
oxidative stress.
What conclusions or other applications could
the findings lead to?
The simple answer would be that increasing
FOXO1 should help wound healing based on
our result that FOXO1 is needed for normal
healing to occur. However, it is more complicated than this since high levels of FOXO1 are
just as detrimental as not having enough
FOXO1.
IL-17-MEDIATED M1/M2 MACROPHAGE
ALTERATION CONTRIBUTES TO
PATHOGENESIS OF BISPHOSPHONATERELATED OSTEONECROSIS OF THE JAWS
Clinical Cancer Research (7.8 Impact Factor)
Zhang Q, Atsuta I, Liu S, Chen C, Shi S, Shi S, Le AD.
Osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) is a condition
involving the necrosis of the jaw bone that is
associated with certain anti-resorptive drugs
to treat cancer or prevent bone loss in osteoporosis. The objective of this study is to explore
the potential role of interleukin 17 (IL-17)mediated regulation of macrophage function,
specifically the subtype M1/M2 macrophage,
in the pathogenesis of bisphosphonate-related
osteonecrosis of the jaw (BRONJ).
ABOVE: Numbers of migrating cells, shown in red, are
greatly reduced when the molecule FOX01 is deleted
(right column).
used in the study?
In this study, we developed a BRONJ-disease
model in multiple myeloma (MM)-burdened
mice. The important techniques include therapeutic approaches using adoptive transfer of
ex vivo expanded M2 macrophages, or pharmacological blockage of IL-17 activity to treat
BRONJ.
This work reports that increased Th17 cells
and IL-17 cytokine levels correlate with an
increase in M1/M2 macrophages ratio at the
non-healing extraction sockets of both BRONJ
patients and murine models; adoptive transfer
of ex vivo expanded M2 macrophages could
reverse systemic increase of IL-17 and ONJ
severity, and blocking IL-17 activity significantly
decreased M1/M2 ratio and concomitantly
suppressed BRONJ condition in mice. These
findings have provided compelling evidence
that IL-17-mediated M1/M2 macrophage alteration plays a critical role in the pathophysiology
of BRONJ, a promising breakthrough for identifying novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets
for this debilitating and painful disease.
The study concludes that IL-17-mediated
M1/M2 macrophage alteration induced by
zoledronate may be beneficial for cancer therapy,
but might have contributed to an increased
susceptibility to BRONJ development.
LOCALLY DELIVERED SALICYLIC ACID
FROM A POLY(ANHYDRIDE-ESTER):
IMPACT ON DIABETIC BONE REGENERATION
Journal of Controlled Release (7.6 Impact Factor)
Wada, K., Yu, W., Elazizi, M., Barakat, S., Ouimet,
M.A., Rosario-Meléndez, R., Fiorellini, J.P., Graves,
D.T., Uhrich, K.E.
Diabetes mellitus (DM) involves metabolic
changes that can impair bone repair, including
a prolonged inflammatory response. A salicylic
acid-based poly(anhydride-ester) (SA-PAE)
provides controlled and sustained release of
salicylic acid (SA) that locally resolves inflammation. This study investigates the effect of
polymer-controlled SA release on bone regeneration in diabetic rats where enhanced
inflammation is expected.
used in the study?
This study is the first time that an SA-PAE has
been applied to diabetic animals for bone
regeneration purposes. The difficult part in this
project was the surgical procedure and postoperative management. Because of the diabetic
animals, the grafting procedure needed to be
minimally invasive and postoperative monitoring
has a significant impact on wound healing
process.
We found that treatment with SA-PAE
enhances bone regeneration in diabetic rats.
Plus, it can accelerate bone regeneration in
normoglycemic (non-diabetic) animals. It could
be possible for this polymer to combine with a
bone graft in order to achieve more predictable
bone formation for oral and maxillofacial
reconstruction purposes.
The advantages of localized, controlled, and
sustained SA release, our polymer system
enables the incorporation of other bioactives
(such as insulin) to further improve bone
regeneration.
ORAL DELIVERY OF BIOENCAPSULATED
PROTEINS ACROSS BLOOD-BRAIN AND
BLOOD-RETINAL BARRIERS
Molecular Therapy (7.0 Impact Factor)
Westerveld, D.R., Ayache, A.C., Verma, A., Shil, P.,
Prasad, T., Zhu, P., Chan, S.L., Li, Q., Daniell, H.
The goal of this study is to develop a low cost,
orally deliverable drug for long-term treatment
of Alzheimer’s patients at home.
used in the study?
The most important concept is bio-encapsulation
of therapeutic proteins. Plant cells protect protein
drugs from acids and enzymes in the digestive
system. However, when plant cells carrying
therapeutic proteins reach the gut intact, they
are broken down by microbes colonizing the gut,
thereby releasing the drugs in the gut for rapid
absorption into the blood circulatory system.
The most surprising observation is our ability
to deliver therapeutic proteins across the
blood-brain barrier, which tightly regulates the
transport of molecules to the brain, blocking
bio-therapeutics from reaching their site of
action. Alzheimer’s disease results in accumulation of the Beta amyloid plaques in the brain.
Myelin basic protein (MBP) inhibits amyloid
fibril formation through binding and degradation
of amyloid by intrinsic protease activity. Oral
delivery of MBP fused to a transmucosal carrier
(CTB) that facilitates delivery of proteins to
the circulatory system from the gut degraded
amyloid plaques in post-mortem human
Alzheimer’s disease brains and in Alzheimer’s
mouse model. Another surprising finding was
the observation of amyloid plaques in the
retina and their clearance after oral delivery of
CTB-MBP. This raises an interesting question
—whether dementia and decrease in vision
could both contribute to early symptoms of
Alzheimer’s disease (especially the inability to
recognize close relatives).
ABOVE: Compared to controls, Dr. Daniell’s strategy
(lower right) reduced plaques in the brain tissue of
Alzheimer's patients.
Alzheimer’s disease is currently incurable.
Right now, treatment is limited to management
of symptoms and palliative care. This invention
opens the possibility to treat Alzheimer’s disease
before or after early onset by elimination of
plaques through oral delivery of CTB-MBP. This
also opens the possibility of delivering drugs to
the retina across the blood-retinal barrier.
WITH
HONORS
Students with the interest, motivation,
and required academic achievement
can earn their DMD degree with honors.
The competitive honors program is
designed to enable students develop
the skills to leverage their leadership
potential in the areas of research,
clinical dentistry, community health,
and dentistry for the medically complex
(oral medicine).
PENN DENTAL MEDICINE HONORS
DEGREE PROGRAM OFFERS STUDENTS
VALUABLE EXPERIENCES TREATING
PATIENTS, DOING RESEARCH,
SERVING THE COMMUNITY
S
MOST WEDNESDAY afternoons, Kari Hexem
(D’15) takes the subway from Penn Dental
Medicine’s West Philadelphia campus to
13th and Locust streets, where she spends
the next four hours helping to provide dental
care to HIV/AIDS patients. Katharine Woehling
(D’14) has had the opportunity to work on
advanced clinical cases this year, while the
research Jae Yeon Jang (D’14) did on a bacterium associated with periodontitis was
published in a professional journal.
These three students have gained valuable
experiences in patient care and research
through Penn Dental Medicine’s honors
program. Since it was established in October
2010 with options in community health, clinical,
and research honors, about 200 students
demonstrating interest, motivation, and academic achievement have participated in the
“At Penn Dental Medicine,
we pride ourselves not only
on providing an excellent
education, but on providing
opportunities for students
to pursue their passions.”
— DR. KATHLEEN BOESZE-BATTAGLIA
program, says Dr. Kathleen Boesze-Battaglia,
Professor, Department of Biochemistry, and
director of the honors program, as well as
the research honors program.
This year, a fourth honors program in
oral medicine, focusing on dentistry for the
medically complex patient, was added as an
option, and 12 students are currently in the
program, according to Dr. Arthur Kuperstein,
Assistant Professor of Oral Medicine and
director of tbe new honors program.
“The honors program is important for
several reasons,” says Dr. Boesze-Battaglia.
“At Penn Dental Medicine, we pride ourselves
not only on providing an excellent education,
but on providing opportunities for students
to pursue their passions. This program
enhances the student experience by providing
them a strong foundation for future specialties, as well as providing us an excellent
opportunity to recruit a diverse student body
as it relates to healthcare goals.”
For instance, she notes that more than
half the students in the research honors program have published research papers, and
many have won travel awards and presented
posters to the International and American
Associations for Dental Research. Students
in community health honors, with Director
of Community Oral Health and Associate
Dean for Academic Policies Joan Gluch as
director, spend 120 hours in a variety of
community health settings and also can
propose a site of their choosing. Fourth-year
students in clinical honors work on advanced
procedures in the William W.M. Cheung
Advanced Dental Care Clinic.
The new program in oral medicine,
dentistry for the medically complex, gives
students the opportunity to work with medically
complex patients—those impacted by a
range of diseases and required medications—
and participate in the professional dialogue
and collaboration with all healthcare
providers to better care for these patients,
says Dr. Thomas Sollecito, Chair and
Professor of Oral Medicine.
Roma Ghandi (D’14) one of the first
students in oral medicine honors, says it
“allows me to be exposed to very ill patients
and, as a result, train to monitor and evaluate
changes in patients’ health and medications.
By working closely with faculty and residents,
I am able to develop specific treatment plans
to fit the needs of patients based on their
medical histories.”
200
students
have participated in the honors
program since established in 2010
In the future, there could be up to 20
students in the oral medicine honors program,
says Dr. Boesze-Battaglia. About 30 students
participate annually in the community health
honors program and up to 10 are selected
for research honors. While the clinical honors
program has had as many as 40 students
annually, the number will be limited to 20
students starting next year.
Dr. Jeffrey Ingber, Clinical Professor of
Restorative Dentistry and new director of
the clinical honors program, hopes to utilize
social media, blogs, and other technologies
to enhance communication between students
and faculty on such issues as patient care,
learning experiences, and scheduling logistics.
With fewer students working on sophisticated
cases involving implants and other treatments
and a focus on conceptual learning, Dr. Ingber
envisions the clinical honors program as a
“laboratory for educational innovation.”
For student Kari Hexem, the experience
in community health honors has been so
positive that she is considering applying for
the new medically complex oral medicine
honors program, through which she could
continue to work with HIV/AIDS patients.
The honors program, she says, “is enriching
what we are exposed to.”
WITHHONORS
FOR KARI HEXEM (D’15), applying to the
honors program in community health last year
was a natural fit. She had been volunteering
with Philadelphia FIGHT, the city’s largest
provider of comprehensive care for people
with HIV/AIDS, as an intern with Penn’s
Bridging the Gaps program, which focuses on
community healthcare. Hexem wanted to
continue to work with the agency and hoped
the honors program would provide an institutional framework and support for her to do so.
This year, under the auspices of the
community health honors program, Hexem
and two other honors students, fellow thirdyear Jonathan Vo and fourth-year Tyler Smith,
have helped initiate a new dental care program
at Philadelphia FIGHT, where they see up
to seven patients on a typical Wednesday
afternoon. Hexem helped write a grant
proposal that provided the organization with
portable dental equipment and supplies to
support their work.
“We do screenings, look inside their
mouths, talk about any complaints, provide
information, rate their dental anxiety,” Hexem
explains. “If they need care, we try to connect
them with the appropriate clinic” at Penn
Dental Medicine.
For Hexem, the motivation is clear:
helping to provide dental care to a population
that is underserved and at risk of serious
complications because of their compromised
immune systems. But the benefit to her is
equally clear. “Dental school is very overwhelming,” she says. “Having these four hours
set aside every week has been an incredible
blessing. It provides a counterbalance to more
didactic learning and allows me to focus on
something I feel really committed to.”
Philadelphia FIGHT is one of several
organizations served by community honors
students; others include healthcare clinics
at Homeless Health Initiative, Puentes de
Salud clinic in South Philadelphia, and Sayre
Health Center in West Philadelphia.
At FIGHT, the Penn Dental Medicine
honors students often deal with a wide range
of issues that impact their patients. “We’re
learning how to appropriately interact with
and triage a patient population with complex
needs,” says Hexem, who plans to work in
community health dental care.
The honors program provides “a
tremendous opportunity to give students
more support in learning about community
health endeavors,” she says. “Now, when I
think about community health dentistry,
I have a clear vision of what this could look
like, both the frustrations and the rewards.”
CLINICAL HONORS PROGRAM:
KATHARINE WOEHLING (D’14)
KATHARINE WOEHLING (D’14) applied
to the clinical honors program for her senior
year because she wanted “to expand my
clinical knowledge and be introduced to
more challenging dental procedures.”
And challenge is what she got, working
with faculty on such procedures as restoring
implants and other complex treatments.
“I’ve been introduced to new techniques, new
equipment, and dental materials that I
otherwise may not have been exposed to in
dental school, and for this I’m very grateful,”
Woehling says. “I learned new techniques
for sculpting and staining composite resin
restorations to enhance my restorative
dentistry skills.” She also learned to use the
Lava intraoral scanner to fabricate impressions digitally.
In addition to gaining experience working
on tough cases and with new materials and
tools, Woehling applied to the honors program because she “wanted to be exposed to
the teaching styles of many clinical faculty
members to learn how to treatment plan
from different perspectives.”
Woehling says her honors experience
has been a valuable bridge between dental
school and private practice, helping her
develop the skills to formulate more comprehensive treatment plans and observe how
faculty members interact with patients to
explain procedures and treatment plans.
“Communicating with patients is one of the
most important parts of dentistry, and I know
I will incorporate the skills I learned in honors
clinic into my future practice,” she says.
The honors program has provided
Woehling with other benefits as well. “I’ve
learned to be a more organized and efficient
dental professional,” she explains. “The
program has helped me to become more
independent, while being guided by talented
faculty. The collaborative environment
educates students through a team approach,
and because of this I have learned so much
from my peers.”
WITHHONORS
RESEARCH HONORS PROGRAM:
JAE YEON JANG (D’14)
AS A RESEARCH HONORS STUDENT,
JAE YEON JANG (D’14) collaborated with
Penn Dental Medicine faculty on a study of
a protein, cytolethal distending toxin (CDT),
which is produced by a bacterium associated
with some forms of periodontitis.
“I was involved in creating various
mutations on CDT toxins in an attempt to
identify structural and functional motifs,”
Jang says. “I was also localizing various
subunits of CDT during its intoxication process
using fluorescence tags and observing them
under the confocal microscope.”
The findings were published May 2012
in the journal Infection and Immunity of the
American Society for Microbiology. For the
research honors program, Jang worked
under the tutelage of Dr. Joseph DiRienzo,
Professor, Department of Microbiology,
who was a co-author of the study along with
several other Penn Dental Medicine faculty
members.
Jang said his work on the project was
not just about learning what CDT does, but
also about putting scientific concepts into
practice. “You really gain a lot of experience
in vast areas of research techniques that
are commonly used,” he says. “And these
experiences will be very useful if I decide to
participate in further research during my
specialty training.”
Jang was interested in participating
in the research honors program because he
“believes strongly that research is what
connects basic science to real life.” As an
undergraduate at the University of WisconsinMadison, he worked on research projects for
three years and was pleased to be able to
continue to do so at Penn Dental Medicine.
“We learn so many basic science concepts
through lectures and reading textbooks,”
Jang says. “But we have limited opportunities
to use what we learn in basic science classes
in real life. The research honors program
gave me that opportunity. I was actually at
the frontier of the specific subject that I
researched.”
Although he plans to go into practice
after graduation, he is not ruling out the
possibility of doing research in the future.
Meanwhile, he’s pleased to have had the
experience to immerse himself in a research
project with Penn Dental Medicine faculty.
“I believe offering this type of research
opportunity for students is what distinguishes
Penn from other dental schools,” Jang says.
—By Debbie Goldberg
ACADEMICUPDATE
DEPARTMENT/FACULTY NEWS & SCHOLARSHIP
ANATOMY & CELL
BIOLOGY
Brisson BK, Spinazzola JM, Park S,
Barton ER. Viral expression of insulin-like
growth factor-I E-peptides increases skeletal
muscle mass but at the expense of strength.
Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2014
Feb 25.
DOI:10.1152/ajpendo.00008.2014.
Cho A, Haruyama N, Hall B, Danton
MJS, Zhang L, Arany P, Mooney DJ,
Harichane Y, Goldberg M, Gibson CW,
Kulkarni AB. TGF-ß regulates enamel
mineralization and maturation through
KLK4 expression. PLoS ONE. 2013;8(11)
RETIREMENTS
Dr. Carolyn Gibson, Professor, Dept. of
Anatomy & Cell Biology, retired effective
December 31, 2013 after 27 years of
service to the School. Her teaching and
accomplished research has contributed
greatly to the School and to the field of
dental medicine as a whole. In 2003,
she was named the Distinguished
Scientist in Oral Biology by the International Association for Dental Research
for her extensive work on the molecular
and genetic bases of tooth enamel
formation. She was also recognized in
2002 with the American Association
for Dental Research William Gies Award
for the best paper in the Journal of
Dental Research, and again in 2008 with
a second William Gies Award in the
area of biological research. She continues
to be active in research at the School.
For the past two years, Dr. Gibson has
also served as Interim Chair of the
Department; Dr. Elisabeth Barton,
Associate Professor, assumed this leadership role effective January 1, 2014.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Recently published work by department
researchers (indicated in bold).
Brisson BK, Barton ER. New modulators
for IGF-I activity within IGF-I processing
products. Front Endocrinol.
2013;4(MAR).
DOI:10.3389/fendo.2013.00042.
Coffey EE, Beckel JM, Laties AM,
Mitchell CH. Lysosomal alkalization and
dysfunction in human fibroblasts with the
alzheimer's disease-linked presenilin 1
A246E mutation can be reversed with
cAMP. Neuroscience. 2014;263:111-24.
Forbes SC, Bish LT, Ye F, Spinazzola J,
Baligand C, Plant D, Vandenborne K,
Barton ER, Sweeney HL, Walter GA.
Gene transfer of arginine kinase to skeletal
muscle using adeno-associated virus.
Gene Ther. 2014
Guha S, Baltazar GC, Coffey EE, Tu LA,
Lim JC, Beckel JM, Patel S, Eysteinsson
T, Lu W, O'Brien-Jenkins A, Laties AM,
Mitchell CH. Lysosomal alkalinization,
lipid oxidation, and reduced phagosome
clearance triggered by activation of the
P2X7 receptor. FASEB J. 2013
Nov;27(11):4500-9. DOI:10.1096/fj.13236166.
Križaj D, Ryskamp DA, Tian N, Tezel G,
Mitchell CH, Slepak VZ, Shestopalov
VI. From mechanosensitivity to inflammatory responses: New players in the pathology of glaucoma. Curr Eye Res.
2014;39(2):105-19.
Pugach MK, Suggs C, Li Y, Wright JT,
Kulkarni AB, Bartlett JD, Gibson CW.
M180 amelogenin processed by MMP20
is sufficient for decussating murine
enamel. J Dent Res. 2013;92(12):1118-22.
Smith LR, Barton ER. Collagen content
does not alter the passive mechanical
properties of fibrotic skeletal muscle in
mdx mice. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol.
2014 Mar 5. DOI:10.1152/ajpcell.00383.2013.
Xu C, Tabebordbar M, Iovino S, Ciarlo
C, Liu J, Castiglioni A, Price E, Liu M,
Barton ER, Kahn CR, Wagers AJ, Zon
LI. XA zebrafish embryo culture system
defines factors that promote vertebrate
myogenesis across species. Cell.
2013;155(4):X909-921.
Zou Y, Zwolanek D, Izu Y, Gandhy S,
Schreiber G, Brockmann K, Devoto M,
Tian Z, Hu Y, Veit G, Meier M,
Stetefeld J, Hicks D, Straub V,
Voermans NC, Birk DE, Barton ER,
Koch M, Bonnemann CG. Recessive and
dominant mutations in COL12A1 cause a
novel EDS/myopathy overlap syndrome in
humans and mice. Hum Mol Genet. 2014
Jan 20. DOI:10.1093/hmg/ddt627.
Kwon K-, Verma D, Singh ND, Herzog
R, Daniell H. Oral delivery of human biopharmaceuticals, autoantigens and vaccine
antigens bioencapsulated in plant cells.
Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2013;65(6):782-99.
Volk SW, Shah SR, Cohen AJ, Wang Y,
Brisson BK, Vogel LK, Hankenson KD,
Adams SL. (co-author in Dept. of
Orthodontics) Type III collagen regulates
osteoblastogenesis and the quantity of
trabecular bone. Calcif Tissue Int. 2014
Mar 14. DOI:10.1007/s00223-0149843-x.
RECENT GRANT AWARDS
National Eye Institute/NIH/DHHS
grant to study the degradative processes in RPE-photoreceptor renewal.
Principal Investigator: Dr. Kathleen
Boesze Battaglia, Professor
ENDODONTICS
RECENT GRANT AWARDS
National Eye Institute/NIH/DHHS
grant to investigate how the increased
intraocular pressure of glaucoma leads
to increased inflammatory signaling in
the posterior eye, determine if this link
increases with age, and test the ability
of drugs to prevent this response.
Principal Investigator: Dr. Claire Mitchell,
Associate Professor
BIOCHEMISTRY
AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS
Dr. Martin Trope, Clinical Professor of
Endodontics, has been awarded the Jens
Ove Andreasen Lifetime Achievement
Award, by the International Association
for Dental Traumatology (IADT). This
award is given in recognition of exceptional contributions to the field of dental
traumatology in research, teaching, and
engagement and hard work for the IADT.
Daniell H. Editorial. Plant Biotechnology
Journal. 2014;12(1):1.
Kohli N, Westerveld DR, Ayache AC,
Verma A, Shil P, Prasad T, Zhu P, Chan
SL, Li Q, Daniell H. Oral delivery of
bioencapsulated proteins across bloodbrain and blood-retinal barriers. Mol Ther.
2014 Mar;22(3):535-46.
DOI:10.1038/mt.2013.273.
ACADEMICUPDATE
MICROBIOLOGY
Kim KW, Cho KM, Park SH, Choi KY,
Karabucak B, Kim JW. A comparison of
dimensional standard of several nickeltitanium rotary files. Restor Dent Endod.
2014 Feb;39(1):7-11.
DOI:10.5395/rde.2014.39.1.7.
Luo Z, Kohli MR, Yu Q, Kim S, Qu T,
He W-. Biodentine induces human dental
pulp stem cell differentiation through
mitogen-activated protein kinase and
calcium-/Calmodulin-dependent protein
kinase II pathways. J Endod. 2014
Luo Z, Li D, Kohli MR, Yu Q, Kim S, He
WX. Effect of biodentine on the proliferation, migration and adhesion of human
dental pulp stem cells. J Dent. 2014 Jan
17. DOI:10.1016/j.jdent.2013.12.011.
Setzer FC, Kim S. Comparison of longterm survival of implants and endodontically treated teeth. J Dent Res.
2014;93(1):19-26.
Setzer FC. Implant survival rates may
not exceed those of compromised but
adequately treated and maintained teeth.
J Evid Based Dent Pract. 2014
Mar;14(1):19-21.
DOI:10.1016/j.jebdp.2014.01.002.
Yücel AC, Gürel M, Güler E, Karabucak B.
Comparison of final irrigation techniques
in removal of calcium hydroxide.
Australian Endodontic Journal.
2013;39(3):116-21.
Ando-Suguimoto ES, Da Silva MP,
Kawamoto D, Chen C, DiRienzo JM,
Mayer MPA. The cytolethal distending
toxin of aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans inhibits macrophage phagocytosis and subverts cytokine production.
Cytokine. 2014;66(1):46-53.
Cairns TM, Fontana J, Huang Z-,
Whitbeck JC, Atanasiu D, Rao S, Shelly
SS, Lou H, de Leon MP, Steven AC,
Eisenberg RJ, Cohen GH. Mechanism of
neutralization of herpes simplex virus by
antibodies directed at the fusion domain
of glycoprotein b. J Virol.
2014;88(5):2677-89.
Cui H, Xu B, Wu T, Xu J, Yuan Y, Gu Q.
Potential antiviral lignans from the roots
of saururus chinensis with activity against
Epstein-Barr virus lytic replication. J Nat
Prod. 2014;77(1):100-10.
Gallagher JR, Saw WT, Atanasiu D, Lou
H, Eisenberg RJ, Cohen GH.
Displacement of the C terminus of herpes
simplex virus gD is sufficient to expose the
fusion-activating interfaces on gD. J Virol.
2013;87(23):12656-66.
Hajishengallis E, Hajishengallis G
(co-author in Dept. of Preventive &
Restorative Sciences). Neutrophil homeostasis and periodontal health in children
and adults. J Dent Res. 2014;93(3):231-7.
Hajishengallis G, Lamont RJ. Breaking
bad: Manipulation of the host response by
porphyromonas gingivalis. Eur J Immunol.
2014;44(2):328-38.
Hajishengallis G, Mcintosh ML,
Nishiyama S-, Yoshimura F. Mechanism
and implications of CXCR4-mediated integrin activation by porphyromonas gingivalis. Mol Oral Microbiol.
2013;28(4):239-49.
DOI:10.1111/OMI.12021.
Hajishengallis G, Mantovani A,
Moretta A, Lambris JD. Aegean reflections on innate immunity. Nat Immunol.
2013;14(10):1025-9.
Hajishengallis G. Aging and its impact
on innate immunity and inflammation:
Implications for periodontitis. Journal of
Oral Biosciences. 2013
Hajishengallis G. Immunomicrobial
pathogenesis of periodontitis: Keystones,
pathobionts, and host response. Trends
Immunol. 2014;35(1):3-11.
Jo A-, Baek KJ, Shin JE, Choi Y.
Mechanisms of IL-8 suppression by treponema denticola in gingival epithelial cells.
Immunol Cell Biol. 2014;92(2):139-47.
Lazear E, Whitbeck JC, Zuo Y, Carfí A,
Cohen GH, Eisenberg RJ,
Krummenacher C. Induction of conformational changes at the N-terminus of
herpes simplex virus glycoprotein D upon
binding to HVEM and nectin-1. Virology.
2014;448:185-95.
Maekawa T, Hajishengallis G. Topical
treatment with probiotic lactobacillus brevis CD2 inhibits experimental periodontal
inflammation and bone loss. J Periodont
Res. 2014
Mitroulis I, Kang YY, Gahmberg CG,
Siegert G, Hajishengallis G, Chavakis T,
Choi EY. Developmental endothelial
locus-1 attenuates complement-dependent
phagocytosis through inhibition of mac-1integrin. Thromb Haemost. 2013 Dec
19;111(5). DOI:10.1160/TH13-09-0794.
Rosan B, Rossman L, Baumgartner JC.
(co-author in Dept. of Endodontics)
Endodontic microbiology.In: Lamont RJ,
Hajishengallis G, Jenkinson HF, editors.
Oral microbiology and immunology. 2nd
ed. Washington, DC: ASM Press; 2014;
p. 361-71.
Schormann N, Banerjee S, Ricciardi R,
Chattopadhyay D. Structure of the uracil
complex of vaccinia virus uracil DNA glycosylase. Acta Crystallographica Section
F: Structural Biology and Crystallization
Communications. 2013;69(12):1328-34.
Shin J, Hosur KB, Pyaram K, Jotwani R,
Liang S, Chavakis T, Hajishengallis G.
Expression and function of the homeostatic molecule del-1 in endothelial cells
and the periodontal tissue. Clinical and
Developmental Immunology. 2013;2013
Xu B, Wang L, González-Molleda L,
Wang Y, Xu J, Yuan Y. Antiviral activity
of (+)-rutamarin against kaposi's sarcomaassociated herpes virus by inhibition of the
catalytic activity of human topoisomerase
II. Antimicrob Agents Chemother.
2014;58(1):563-73.
FACULTYPERSPECTIVE(CONT).
(continued from page 16)
adequately treated and maintained teeth.” This
study supports “the notion that the decision to
extract a tooth and place a dental implant should
be made cautiously.” The study further argues
that a tooth can be extracted and replaced at
any time; however, extraction is a definitive and
irreversible treatment.
It is clear that implant-industry-supported studies have been steering
our clinical dentistry down a dangerous and risky path. Saving teeth is
becoming a dirty word in implant dentistry, although a majority of
patients want to save their teeth. It is about time we reexamine what
we are doing judiciously and ethically.
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1. Debellian, G. (2014). Treatment outcome of teeth with an evidence-based
disinfection protocol using modern
instruments. In preparation.
2. Kim S, Kratchman S (2006). Modern
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3. Doyle SL, Hodges JS, Pesun IJ, Law
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(2013). Tooth preservation or implant
placement: A systematic review of
long-term tooth and implant survival
rates. JADA 2013;144(10):1119-1133.
RECENT GRANT AWARDS
NIDCR/NIH/DHHS grant to determine
the mechanisms whereby P. gingivalis
manipulates the host response to stabilize
dysbiotic microbial communities leading
to inflammation and periodontitis.
Principal Investigator: Dr. George
Hajishengallis, Professor
ORAL MEDICINE
Dr. Thomas Sollecito, Professor and
Chair of Oral Medicine, recipient of the
Thomas Evans Achievement Award,
presented by the Penn Dental Medicine
Alumni Society, May 2014. See story
page 34.
Dr. Eric Stoopler, Associate Professor
of Oral Medicine, was inducted as a
Fellow of the International College of
Dentists, October 2013; he was also
awarded the Diploma of Fellowship ad
eundem of the Faculty of Dental
Surgery of the Royal College of
Surgeons of England, October 2013.
Akintoye SO, Greenberg MS. Recurrent
aphthous stomatitis. Dent Clin North Am.
2014
Akintoye SO. Osteonecrosis of the jaw
from bone anti-resorptives: Impact of
skeletal site-dependent mesenchymal
stem cells. Oral Dis. 2014;20(2):221-2.
Balasubramaniam R, Kuperstein AS,
Stoopler ET. Update on oral herpes virus
infections. Dent Clin North Am. 2014
Apr;58(2):265-80.
DOI:10.1016/j.cden.2013.12.001.
Donaldson M, Goodchild JH, Ziegler J.
Dental considerations for patients taking
weight-loss medications. J Am Dent
Assoc. 2014 Jan;145(1):70-4.
DOI:10.14219/jada.2013.3.
Grosskopf CC, Kuperstein AS,
O'Malley BW,Jr, Sollecito TP.
Parapharyngeal space tumors: Another
consideration for otalgia and temporomandibular disorders. Head Neck. 2013
May;35(5):E153-6.
DOI:10.1002/hed.22005.
He L, Zhang E, Shi J, Li X, Zhou K,
Zhang Q, Le AD, Tang X. (-)Epigallocatechin-3-gallate inhibits human
papillomavirus (HPV)-16 oncoproteininduced angiogenesis in non-small cell
lung cancer cells by targeting HIF-1alpha.
Cancer Chemother Pharmacol. 2013
Mar;71(3):713-25.
DOI:10.1007/s00280-012-2063-z.
Idahosa C, Berardi TR, Shkolnikov R,
Stoopler ET. Thrombocytopenia absent
radius (TAR) syndrome: A case report and
review for oral health care providers.
Special Care in Dentistry. 2013
Stoopler ET, Zamel GA. How to manage
a pediatric patient with oral ulcers. J Can
Dent Assoc. 2014 Jan;80:e9.
Xu HH, Werth VP, Parisi E, Sollecito
TP. Mucous membrane pemphigoid. Dent
Clin North Am. 2013 Oct;57(4):611-30.
DOI:10.1016/j.cden.2013.07.003.
ORAL SURGERY/
PHARMACOLOGY
STUDENT TRAINING
Kalladka M, Quek S, Heir G, Eliav E,
Mupparapu M, Viswanath A.
Temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis:
Diagnosis and long-term conservative
management: A topic review. J Indian
Prosthodont Soc. 2014 Mar;14(1):6-15.
DOI:10.1007/s13191-013-0321-3.
Kumar A, Gumaste P, Lam C, Dostal P,
Stoopler ET, Schwab EP. An unusual
ingestion in an older person: Dentures.
J Am Geriatr Soc. 2014;62(2):399-400.
Sansare K, Raghav M, Mupparapu M,
Mundada N, Karjodkar FR, Bansal S,
Desai R. Keratocystic odontogenic tumor:
Systematic review with analysis of 72
additional cases from mumbai, india. Oral
Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology
and Oral Radiology. 2013;115(1):128-39.
Sollecito TP, Stoopler ET. Preface. Dent
Clin North Am. 2014
Stoopler ET, Kuperstein AS. Glossitis
secondary to vitamin B12 deficiency anemia. CMAJ. 2013;185(12)
Stoopler ET, Lockhart PB, Sass DA.
Antibiotic prophylaxis for pre-liver transplant patients: Where is the evidence?
Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral
Pathology and Oral Radiology. 2013
Stoopler ET, Sia YW, Chalian AA,
O'Malley BW,Jr, Alawi F (co-author in
Dept. of Pathology). A rare presentation
of multiple primary squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue in a patient with
recurrent hepatitis C infection. Spec Care
Dentist. 2014 Mar;34(2):96-9.
DOI:10.1111/scd.12030.
RETIREMENTS
Dr. John W. Mooney (D’27) is retiring
as Clinical Associate Professor of Oral
Surgery/Pharmacology and Director
of Penn Dental Medicine Oral Surgery
Clinic, effective May 17, 2014. Dr. Mooney
has made an indelible impact on predoctoral students and oral surgery residents.
While stepping down from these posts,
he will still practice part-time in the Oral
Surgery Clinic and continue to mentor
students. Dr. Helen Giannakopoulos,
Associate Professor of Oral & Maxillofacial
Surgery/Pharmacology, will serve as
Interim Director of the Penn Dental
Medicine Oral Surgery Clinic.
Predoctoral students with an
interest in oral surgery now
have new opportunities to
explore the field through the
Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery
Foundation’s (OMSF) Student
Research Training Award. This
is the first time that the
Department has applied for and
received support through this
program, which will fund five
research projects. “We want to
provide students who are interested in oral and maxillofacial
surgery a mechanism to get
involved in research specific to
the field,” says Dr. Helen
Giannakopoulos, Associate
Professor and principal investigator of the grant. “We already
have had multiple inquiries
from students about participating.” Students will work on
research projects with Dr.
Giannakopoulos and Dr. Joli
Chou, Assistant Professor of
Oral & Maxillofacial
Surgery/Pharmacology.
Lee PB, Kiss AS, Nguyen AL, Shi S,
Sedghizadeh PP, Le AD. Evaluation of
serum biomarkers IL-17 and CTX for
BRONJ: A pilot clinical case-control study.
J Calif Dent Assoc. 2013;41(11):819-23.
Peacock ZS, Aghaloo T, Bouloux GF,
Cillo JE,Jr, Hale RG, Le AD, Lee JS,
Kademani D. Proceedings from the 2013
American association of oral and maxillofacial surgeons research summit. J Oral
Maxillofac Surg. 2014 Feb;72(2):241-53.
DOI:10.1016/j.joms.2013.09.037.
ACADEMICUPDATE
Qin H, Qu C, Yamaza T, Yang R, Lin X,
Duan XY, Akiyama K, Liu Y, Zhang Q,
Chen C, Chen Y, Qi HH, Feng XH, Le
AD, Shi S. Ossifying fibroma tumor stem
cells are maintained by epigenetic regulation of a TSP1/TGF-beta/SMAD3
autocrine loop. Cell Stem Cell. 2013 Nov
7;13(5):577-89.
DOI:10.1016/j.stem.2013.08.010.
Saraghi M, Hersh EV. Potential diversion
of local anesthetics from dental offices for
use as cocaine adulterants. J Am Dent
Assoc. 2014 Mar;145(3):256-9.
DOI:10.14219/jada.2013.33.
Saraghi M, Hersh EV. Three newly
approved analgesics: An update. Anesth
Prog. 2013;60(4):178-87.
Sanborn MR, Nasrallah I, Stanton DC,
Stiefel MF, Hurst RW, Pukenas BA.
Acquired arteriovenous fistula associated
with traumatic oroantral fistula:
Endovascular treatment. Head and Neck.
2013;35(5):E138-41.
Tang X, Zhang Q, Le AD, Zhou K. Effect
of Green Tea Extract on Hepatocellular
Carcinoma. Chapter 66 In: Preedy V,
editor. Tea in Health and Disease
Prevention. Academic Press; 2013; p.
791-802.
Zhang Q, Atsuta I, Liu S, Chen C, Shi S,
Shi S, Le AD. IL-17-mediated M1/M2
macrophage alteration contributes to
pathogenesis of bisphosphonate-related
osteonecrosis of the jaws. Clin Cancer
Res. 2013 Jun 15;19(12):3176-88.
DOI:10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-13-0042.
RECENT GRANT AWARDS
Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Foundation
grant to provide stipends for predoctoral
students to engage in research with
high relevance to oral and maxillofacial
surgery and encourage them to pursue
a career in the specialty.
Principal Investigator: Dr. Helen
Giannakopoulos, Associate Professor
Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Foundation
grant to explore the therapeutic effects
of GMSCs on delayed oral socket wound
healing in type 2 diabetic mice and the
contribution of M2 macrophages.
Principal Investigator: Qunzhou Zhang,
Senior Research Investigator
Hsu JC, Koo H, Harunaga JS,
Matsumoto K, Doyle AD, Yamada KM.
Region-specific epithelial cell dynamics
during branching morphogenesis.
Developmental Dynamics.
2013;242(9):1066-77.
ORTHODONTICS
Dr. Chun-Hsi Chung, Chauncey M. F.
Egel Endowed Chair, Dept. of
Orthodontics, was appointed by the
Commission on Dental Accreditation
(CODA) as a Commission Consultant
for the year 2014/2015, starting
October 2014.
Koo H, Falsetta ML, Klein MI. The
exopolysaccharide matrix: A virulence
determinant of cariogenic biofilm. J Dent
Res. 2013;92(12):1065-73.
Bueno-Silva B, Alencar SM, Koo H,
Ikegaki M, Silva GVJ, Napimoga MH,
Rosalen PL. Anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial evaluation of neovestitol and vestitol
isolated from Brazilian red propolis. J Agric
Food Chem. 2013;61(19):4546-50.
Bueno-Silva B, Koo H, Falsetta ML,
Alencar SM, Ikegaki M, Rosalen PL. Effect
of neovestitol-vestitol containing Brazilian
red propolis on accumulation of biofilm in
vitro and development of dental caries in
vivo. Biofouling. 2013;29(10):1233-42.
da Cunha MG, Franchin M, Galvão L, de
Ruiz A, de Carvalho JE, Ikegaki M, de
Alencar SM, Koo H, Rosalen PL.
Antimicrobial and antiproliferative activities of stingless bee melipona scutellaris
geopropolis. BMC Complementary and
Alternative Medicine. 2013;13.
Falsetta ML, Klein MI, Colonne PM,
Scott-Anne K, Gregoire S, GregoireS,
Pai C, Gonzalez M, Watson G, Krysan
DJ, Bowen WH, Koo H. Symbiotic relationship between Streptococcus mutans and
Candida albicans synergizes the virulence of
plaque-biofilms in vivo. Infect. Immun.
2014 Feb; 24. DOI:10.1128/IAI.00087-14.
Feng G, Klein MI, Gregoire S, Singh AP,
Vorsa N, Koo H. The specific degree-ofpolymerization of A-type proanthocyanidin oligomers impacts streptococcus
mutans glucan-mediated adhesion and
transcriptome responses within biofilms.
Biofouling. 2013;29(6):629-40.
CE SYMPOSIUM
This year’s annual meeting of
alumni and friends of the
Department of Orthodontics
will feature a CE symposium on
the “Accelerated Osteogenic
Orthodontics™” (AOO) Procedure,
discussing the clinical procedure
and physiologic benefits,
including increased range of
movement and long-term stability.
Featured speakers will be Drs.
William Wilcko and M. Thomas
Wilcko; the 6-CE credit program
will be held at the Union League
of Philadelphia on Oct. 10, 2014. For
more information and to register,
visit www.dental.upenn.edu/
pennortho2014.
Lemos JA, Quivey Jr. RG, Koo H,
Abranches J. Streptococcus mutans:
A new gram-positive paradigm?
Microbiology (United Kingdom).
2013;159(PART3):436-45.
Shah SR, Tamburrino RK. Practice profile.
Ortho Practice US. 2013;4:8-12.
Shah SR, Tamburrino RK. Stability,
longevity, and predictability in your practice
management technology. Ortho Practice
US. 2014;5:44-9.
RECENT GRANT AWARDS
Colgate Palmolive Company grant to
investigate whether specific foodderived amino acids can disrupt the
development and/or disassemble
cariogenic biofilms.
Principal Investigator: Dr. Michel Koo,
Professor
NIDCR/NIH/DHHS grant to investigate
the molecular basis for caries-inhibiting
effects of cranberry flavonoids.
Professor
NIDCR/NIH/DHHS grant to investigate
a novel anti-caries approach to modulate
virulence of S. mutans.
Professor
Syracuse University (National Science
Foundation) grant to understand the
effects of environmental/host factors
on multicellular and inter-kingdom
signaling processes involved in persister
formation in complex biofilm systems.
Professor
PATHOLOGY
Akay C, Cooper M, Odeleye A, Jensen
BK, White MG, Vassoler F, Gannon PJ,
Mankowski J, Dorsey JL, Buch AM,
Cross SA, Cook DR, Pena MM,
Andersen ES, Christofidou-Solomidou
M, Lindl KA, Zink MC, Clements J,
Pierce RC, Kolson DL, Jordan-Sciutto
KL. Antiretroviral drugs induce oxidative
stress and neuronal damage in the central
nervous system. J Neurovirol. 2014
Feb;20(1):39-53. DOI:10.1007/s13365013-0227-1.
Alawi F, Lin P. Dyskerin localizes to the
mitotic apparatus and is required for
orderly mitosis in human cells. PLoS ONE.
2013;8(11)
Colacurcio DJ, Yeager A, Kolson DL,
Jordan-Sciutto KL, Akay C. Calpainmediated degradation of MDMx/MDM4
contributes to HIV-induced neuronal damage. Molecular and Cellular
Neuroscience. 2013;57:54-62.
Lin P, Mobasher ME, Alawi F. Acute
dyskerin depletion triggers cellular senescence and renders osteosarcoma cells
resistant to genotoxic stress-induced
apoptosis. Biochem Biophys Res
Commun. 2014 Mar 29.
DOI:10.1016/j.bbrc.2014.03.114.
Maserejian NN, Shrader P, Brown OA,
Trachtenberg FL, Soncini J, Hauser R,
Shenker BJ. Dental sealants and composite restorations and longitudinal changes
in immune function markers in children.
International Journal of Paediatric
Dentistry. 2013
Shenker BJ, Maserejian NN, Zhang A,
McKinley S. Immune function effects of
dental amalgam in children: A randomized
clinical trial. Journal of Esthetic and
Restorative Dentistry. 2013;25(6):436.
Ting JH, Marks DR, Schleidt SS, Wu JN,
Zyskind JW, Lindl KA, Blendy JA, Pierce
RC, Jordan-Sciutto KL. Targeted gene
mutation of E2F1 evokes age-dependent
synaptic disruption and behavioral deficits.
J Neurochem. 2014
RECENT GRANT AWARDS
National Institute of Allergy &
Infectious Diseases/NIH/DHHS grant
using humanized mice to determine
the role of MrgX2 expressed in human
mast cells on IgE-mediated anaphylaxis
and asthma.
Principal Investigator: Dr. Hydar Ali,
Professor
NIDCR/NIH/DHHS grant to study the
molecular biology of virulence in periodontal disease, testing the hypothesis
that a bacterial protein toxin (LtxA) of
this organism undergoes structural
reorganization as the molecule transitions from an aqueous to the membrane environment to kill human
immune cells.
Principal Investigator: Dr. Edward Lally,
Professor
PERIODONTICS
Dr. Arnold Weisgold (GD’65), Adjunct
Professor, Dept. of Periodontics,
received the Achievement Medal
Award from Alpha Omega International
Dental Fraternity.
Bhattacharya R, Xu F, Dong G, Li S,
Tian C, Ponugoti B, Graves DT. Effect of
bacteria on the wound healing behavior
of oral epithelial cells. PLoS One. 2014
Feb 21;9(2):e89475. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0089475.
Bondy-Carey JL, Galicia J, Bagaitkar J,
Potempa JS, Potempa B, Kinane DF,
Veillard F, Scott DA. Neutrophils alter
epithelial response to porphyromonas
gingivalis in a gingival crevice model.
Molecular Oral Microbiology.
2013;28(2):102-13.
Chapple ILC, Genco R. Working Group
participant: Graves DT. Diabetes and
periodontal diseases: Consensus report of
the joint EFP/AAP workshop on periodontitis and systemic diseases. J Clin Periodontol.
2013;40(SUPPL. 14):S106-12.
Coimbra LS, Steffens JP, Rossa C,Jr,
Graves DT, Spolidorio LC. Clopidogrel
enhances periodontal repair in rats
through decreased inflammation. J Clin
Periodontol. 2014 Mar;41(3):295-302.
DOI:10.1111/jcpe.12203.
Farias D, Miguez PA, Swift EJ,Jr.
Abstracts. J Esthet Restor Dent. 2014
Jan;26(1):72-6. DOI:10.1111/jerd.12080.
Farias D, Miguez PA. Cross-linkers and
the dentin matrix. Journal of Esthetic and
Restorative Dentistry. 2013
Miguez PA, Swift Jr. EJ. Immediate
placement and loading of implants:
Minding the basics of bone biology.
Journal of Esthetic and Restorative
Dentistry. 2013;25(6):367-70.
Miguez PA, Terajima M, Nagaoka H,
Ferreira JA, Braswell K, Ko CC,
Yamauchi M. Recombinant biglycan
promotes bone morphogenetic proteininduced osteogenesis. J Dent Res. 2014
Jan 30.
DOI:10.1177/0022034514521237.
Finkelman RD, Polson AM. Evidencebased considerations for the clinical use
of locally delivered, controlled-release
antimicrobials in periodontal therapy.
J Dent Hyg. 2013 Oct;87(5):249-64.
Nagaoka H, Nagaoka H, Walter R,
Boushell LW, Miguez PA, Burton A,
Ritter AV, Yamauchi M.
Characterization of genipin-modified
dentin collagen. Biomed Res Int. 2014
Article ID 702821.
DOI:10.1155/2014/702821.
Kim SJ, Ribeiro ALVL, Atlas AM, Saleh
N, Royal J, Radvar M, Korostoff J.
Resonance frequency analysis as a predictor of early implant failure in the partially
edentulous posterior maxilla following
immediate nonfunctional loading or delayed
loading with single unit restorations. Clin
Oral Implants Res. 2013
Noelken R, Donati M, Fiorellini J,
Gellrich N-, Parker W, Wada K,
Berglundh T. Soft and hard tissue alterations around implants placed in an alveolar ridge with a sloped configuration. Clin
Oral Implants Res. 2014;25(1):3-9.
Lee EA, Gonzalez-Martin O, Fiorellini J.
Lingualized flapless implant placement
into fresh extraction sockets preserves
buccal alveolar bone: A cone beam
computed tomography study. Int J
Periodontics Restorative Dent. 2014 JanFeb;34(1):61-8. DOI:10.11607/prd.1807.
Pacios S, Andriankaja O, Kang J,
Alnammary M, Bae J, De Brito Bezerra
B, Schreiner H, Fine DH, Graves DT.
Bacterial infection increases periodontal
bone loss in diabetic rats through
enhanced apoptosis. Am J Pathol.
2013;183(6):1928-35.
Levin BP, Rubinstein S, Rosenthaler H,
Fujiki T, Tawil P. (co-author in Dept. of
Preventive & Restorative Sciences)
Advanced surgical and restorative therapies
aimed at rehabilitation of a severe dentoalveolar defect in the esthetic zone. J
Implant Adv Clin Dent. 2013;5(9):17-27.
Paglia DN, Wey A, Breitbart EA,
Faiwiszewski J, Mehta SK, Al-Zube L,
Vaidya S, Cottrell JA, Graves DT,
Benevenia J, O'Connor JP, Lin SS. Effects
of local insulin delivery on subperiosteal
angiogenesis and mineralized tissue formation during fracture healing. Journal of
Orthopaedic Research. 2013;31(5):783-91.
Li S, Dong G, Moschidis A, Ortiz J,
Benakanakere MR, Kinane DF, Graves
DT. P. gingivalis modulates keratinocytes
through FOXO transcription factors. PLoS
ONE. 2013;8(11)
Ponugoti B, Xu F, Zhang C, Tian C,
Pacios S, Graves DT. FOXO1 promotes
wound healing through the up-regulation
of TGF-ß1 and prevention of oxidative
stress. J Cell Biol. 2013;203(2):327-43.
Yamano S, Haku K, Yamanaka T, Dai J,
Takayama T, Shohara R, Tachi K,
Ishioka M, Hanatani S, Karunagaran S,
Wada K, Moursi AM. The effect of a
bioactive collagen membrane releasing
PDGF or GDF-5 on bone regeneration.
Biomaterials. 2014;35(8):2446-53.
Also see H Daniell under Biochemistry
and DF Kinane under Periodontics, who
both have joint appointments in the Dept.
of Pathology.
ACADEMICUPDATE
PREVENTIVE &
RESTORATIVE SCIENCES
APPOINTMENTS
Dr. Jeffrey Ingber (GD’72), Clinical
Professor of Restorative Dentistry, has
been named Director of the Honors
Program in Clinical Dentistry. He will
continue to expand the honors program
as a platform for innovative and creative
clinical education. Dr. Ingber is one of
only 100 international dentists elected
to membership in the esteemed American
Academy of Esthetic Dentistry.
PUBLICATIONS
Blatz MB. Changing perspectives CAD/CAM ceramic update. J Cosmetic
Dent. 2013;29(2):16-22.
Cobanoglu N, Ozturk B, Sengun A,
Cetin AR, Ozer F. Effect of accelerated
aging on the bonding performance of fluoridated adhesive resins. Dent Mater J.
2014;33(1):92-7.
Dhima M, Petropoulos VC, Salinas TJ,
Wright RF. Predoctoral dental students'
perceptions and experiences with
prosthodontics. Journal of Prosthodontics.
2013;22(2):148-56.
Katsoulis J, Mericske-Stern R, Enkling
N, Katsoulis K, Blatz MB. In vitro precision of fit of computer-aided designed and
computer-aided manufactured titanium
screw-retained fixed dental prostheses
before and after ceramic veneering. Clin
Oral Implants Res. 2013;0
Katsoulis J, Mericske-Stern R, Rotkina
L, Zbären C, Enkling N, Blatz MB.
Precision of fit of implant-supported
screw-retained 10-unit computer-aideddesigned and computer-aided-manufactured
frameworks made from zirconium dioxide
and titanium: An in vitro study. Clin Oral
Implants Res. 2014;25(2):165-74.
Koizuka M, Komine F, Blatz MB, Fushiki
R, Taguchi K, Matsumura H. The effect
of different surface treatments on the
bond strength of a gingiva-colored indirect
composite veneering material to three
implant framework materials. Clin Oral
Implants Res. 2013;24(9):977-84.
Lindemeyer RG. Clinical Correlate:
Amelogenesis Imperfecta. Chapter 19 In:
McCauley LK, Somerman MJ, editors.
Mineralized Tissues in Oral and
Craniofacial Science: Biological Principles
and Clinical Correlates. Wiley-Blackwell;
2012; p. 163-7.
Mante FK, Ozer F, Walter R, Atlas AM,
Saleh N, Dietschi D, Blatz MB. The current
state of adhesive dentistry: A guide for
clinical practice. Compend Contin Educ
Dent. 2013 Nov-Dec;34 Spec 9:2-8.
Ozer F, Mante FK, Chiche G, Saleh N,
Takeichi T, Blatz MB. A retrospective
survey on long-term survival of posterior
zirconia and porcelain-fused-to-metal
crowns in private practice. Quintessence
Int. 2014 Jan;45(1):31-8.
DOI:10.3290/j.qi.a30768.
Takeichi T, Katsoulis J, Blatz MB.
Clinical outcome of single porcelain-fusedto-zirconium dioxide crowns: A systematic
review. J Prosthet Dent.
2013;110(6):455-61.
Yaman BC, Ozer F, Cabukusta CS, Eren
MM, Koray F, Blatz MB. Microtensile
bond strength to enamel affected by
hypoplastic amelogenesis imperfecta.
J Adhes Dent. 2013 Sep 6.
DOI:10.3290/j.jad.a30554.
RECENT GRANT AWARDS
Division of Pediatrics
American Dental Association
Foundation and Dental Trade Alliance
Foundation grants for Books, Brushing,
and Bedtime, a pediatric dental clinicbased literacy intervention project to
promote oral health education and
early childhood literacy.
Principal Investigator: Dr. Rochelle
Lindemeyer, Associate Professor
Dr. Fusun Ozer, Instructor, Div. of Restorative Dentistry, is the
recipient of the 2013-14 Rabinowitz Award for Excellence in
Research. This Penn Dental Medicine award, endowed by Josephine
and Joseph Rabinowitz, is designed to help Penn Dental Medicine
faculty undertake pilot projects that will enable them to successfully
apply for extramural sources of funding. This year’s applications
focused on new projects that also involve new collaborations between
Penn Dental Medicine faculty and other investigators within the
School or the Penn community. Dr. Ozer’s project is “Influence of
PVN/MA copolymer on bacterial adherence to dentin and resin
composite surfaces” and will involve a new collaboration with
Dr. Joseph DiRienzo, Dept. of Microbiology, who will perform the
microbiological analyses. Drs. Francis Mante and Markus Blatz,
Dept. of Preventive & Restorative Sciences, will also collaborate on
the project. PVM/MA is a copolymer of methylvinyl ether and
maleic acid, which has antibacterial properties. The hypothesis of
the project is that incorporation of PVM/MA into adhesive bonding
agents will reduce bacterial adherence to dentin.
ALUMNIHIGHLIGHTS
PROFILES, GATHERINGS & ENGAGEMENT
Philly Magazine’s Top Dentists
Penn Dental Medicine alumni were once again present in impressive numbers
in Philadelphia Magazine’s annual Top Dentists issue, making up 49% of the
212 area dentists recognized in the 2014 Top Dentists listing. Here is a breakdown of the number of alumni included in each specialty:
General Dentistry
Cosmetic Dentistry
Orthodontics
Pediatrics
Periodontics
Endodontics
Prosthodontics
Oral Surgery
Oral Medicine
7 of 29 (24%)
12 of 26 (46%)
17 of 28 (61%)
9 of 23 (39%)
14 of 27 (52%)
14 of 28 (50%)
16 of 24 (67%)
11 of 22 (50%)
3 of 5 (60%)
Philadelphia Magazine arrives at its Top Dentists listing by sending letters to
the address on record for every dentist in Philadelphia and the surrounding
seven-county area, inviting them to nominate up to three peers for Top
Dentists in each dental specialty via an online survey. Six hundred and fourteen dentists took the survey for 2014, amounting to more than 5,000 votes.
The resulting list of 20 Top Dentists in each specialty (including all those who
were tied) was reviewed by an advisory board made up of 11 dentists, chosen
for their credentials and the high number of votes they received.
49%
Major Gifts Officer
Joins Development,
Alumni Team
Penn Dental Medicine’s Office of Development
and Alumni Relations has added a new member
to its team, welcoming Kevin A. Brown in
March as a Major Gifts Officer.
Brown brings more than 14 years of
experience in alumni relations and development
to this new role, most recently working with
Arcadia University. A graduate of Hampshire
College, Brown worked as an actor in Boston
and New York City for 15 years before being
asked to head up the Alumni Relations
Department at his alma mater. He has also
worked in support of development at World
Learning Institute (School for International
Training) and Trinity College.
“I’m looking forward to getting on the
road and meeting Penn Dental Medicine
alumni and friends,” says Brown. He can be
reached at [email protected].
of dentists in Philadelphia Magazine’s
2014 Top Dentists issue were
Penn Dental Medicine alumni
ALUMNIHIGHLIGHTS
THOMAS EVANS
ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
DR. THOMAS SOLLECITO (D’89, GD’91) RECEIVES THE
PENN DENTAL MEDICINE ALUMNI SOCIETY’S HIGHEST
RECOGNITION AWARD—THE 7TH RECIPIENT SINCE
THE AWARD’S INCEPTION.
AS DR. THOMAS SOLLECITO (D’89,
GD’91) marks his 25th class reunion at this
year’s Alumni Weekend, the Penn Dental
Medicine Alumni Society is also paying special
tribute to his 25-year career in dental medicine
with the presentation of the Thomas Evans
Achievement Award. The Evans Award is
the Society’s highest recognition award,
honoring alumni who have shown innovation,
excellence, and leadership in the profession
of oral healthcare; Dr. Sollecito is only the
seventh recipient since the award’s establishment in 1993.
“I’m honored and at a loss for words to
receive this award,” he says, “I know four of
the previous winners, three of whom were
my teachers, and I look at them as true giants
in dental medicine. To be included in this
group…I am incredibly humbled.”
After earning his DMD and completing
general practice and oral medicine residencies
at Penn Dental Medicine, Dr. Sollecito
joined the School’s faculty, rising through
the ranks to Professor and then Chair of
the Department of Oral Medicine in 2009.
Through a diversity of leadership roles,
Dr. Sollecito’s impact within the School’s
Department of Oral Medicine and the field
overall has been far-reaching. Prior to serving
as department chair, Dr. Sollecito directed
both the residency program in oral medicine
and the oral medicine clinic at Penn Dental
Medicine.
“It is an honor to work with students,
residents, and colleagues who are of such a
high caliber and who are always academically
or intellectually challenging me,” he says.
“It forces you to be a better teacher, investigator, and clinician. It’s also exciting when
someone wants to pursue a similar career
as you; you realize how much you can learn
from someone who has just as much interest
in the discipline as you do.”
After 25 years in oral medicine, Dr.
Sollecito still is excited about his work.
“I very much enjoy what I am doing. I look
“We can ameliorate many
complications from cancer
therapy and make early
diagnoses when we see
cancer patients regularly
before, during, and after
therapies.”
— DR. THOMAS SOLLECITO, D’89, GD’91
forward to coming to work, enjoy taking care
of patients, teaching students and residents,
and being involved in research that will have
an impact on patients in the future,” he says.
Dr. Sollecito has a particular interest in
cancer research and has worked in numerous
collaborative roles and on various studies to
discover how oral health impacts cancer
patients. His most recent research study, which
reveals oral medicine-related outcomes of
cancer patients receiving high-dose radiation
to the head and neck, is a first-of-its-kind,
clinical study leading to better understanding
of oral and dental complications experienced
by patients after radiation therapy. “This
study will give us a better understanding
regarding damage to tissue that affects a
patient’s quality of life, identify risk factors
for disease, and improve the ability to deliver
the best dental care for these patients,” he says.
In addition, in collaboration with
Abramson Cancer Center, Penn Dental
Medicine provides diagnostic dental care to
patients with cancer, and over his time with
the School, Dr. Sollecito has continued to
strengthen that partnership, leveraging their
collaborative research and clinical care to
improve the quality of life for many cancer
patients suffering from oral problems caused
by cancer metastasis.
“Cancer and cancer therapy often have
profound oral implications. Chemotherapy
and radiation therapy can have devastating
effects on oral health, and that’s why a team
approach at Abramson is so important,”
says Dr. Sollecito. “We can ameliorate many
complications from cancer therapy and
make early diagnoses when we see cancer
patients regularly before, during, and after
therapies.”
DR. THOMAS SOLLECITO, D’89, GD’91
Along with his responsibilities at Penn
Dental Medicine, where he also served as
interim dean from 2008 to 2009, Dr. Sollecito
is Professor of Oral Medicine in otolaryngology,
head and neck surgery at Penn’s Perelman
School of Medicine; Attending in Oral
Medicine at the Hospital of the University
of Pennsylvania; and a University Associate
at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
and the Abramson Cancer Center. He also
consults with the National Naval Dental
Center and is a reviewer for The Journal of
the American Dental Association.
While his workload often makes others
wonder how he achieves as much as he does,
Dr. Sollecito maintains that collaborative
efforts with colleagues across disciplines
make the load not only manageable but
inspiring. “I love to think about a clinical
problem that we can immediately translate
into a solution for our patients,” he says.
His solution-oriented approach has
been influenced by colleagues and mentors
alike. “I am particularly fortunate to have
had Martin Greenberg, our former Chair, as
an invaluable mentor,” he says.
Aside from the Thomas Evans Achievement Award, Dr. Sollecito is particularly
proud of winning the 2005-2006 Christian R.
and Mary F. Lindback Award for Distinguished
Teaching at the University of Pennsylvania.
“Teaching is a passion, and one of the highlights of my career is seeing students open
up and express their own ideas.”
He also received the Penn Medicine
Award of Excellence in 2006 and has been
recognized in Philadelphia Magazine’s
Top Dentists.
ALUMNIHIGHLIGHTS
Alumni-Student
Networking Event >
>
On November 6, students networked with
alumni, faculty, members of the Board of
Overseers, and each other at the 2013 Penn
Dental Alumni-Student Networking Event held
at the HUB Commerce Square.
Penn Dental
Medicine Tennis
Events >
>
This winter, Penn Dental Medicine alumni, students, and faculty came together for two separate round-robin tennis matches at the Levy
Tennis Pavilion. Organized by Dr. Lee Durst
(D’83), Alumni Society President, nearly 30
participants including Dean Denis F. Kinane
participated in each event!
Penn Dental
Medicine Tailgate
& Basketball Game >
On February 8, Penn Dental Medicine alumni
and students gathered to cheer the Penn Quakers
to victory at The Palestra as the men’s basketball team took on the Columbia Lions.
THE STUDENTS in Dr. Margrit Maggio’s
Operative Dentistry class have seen the
future, and it’s called haptic technology.
Interfacing with users through their
sense of touch, haptic technology is the force
behind the Simodont advanced simulation
units that Dr. Maggio (D’87), Assistant
Professor of Clinical Restorative Dentistry
and Director of Operative Dentistry and the
Advanced Simulation Laboratory, introduced
to her first-year students last fall as part of a
year-long study comparing haptic technology
to traditional advanced simulation systems.
Her research results will be published later
this year.
Through this year-long pilot, which
used two Simodont units, every first-year
student was trained on these cutting-edge
clinical situation and varying conditions
much more realistically, while objectively
assessing and supporting the individual
capabilities and needs of each student,” he
says. “These virtual reality tools are extremely
beneficial in preparing our students for our
ultimate goal: highest-quality patient care.”
FEELING THE DIFFERENCE
HAPTICTECHNOLOGY
AT THE FOREFRONT OF VIRTUAL REALITY
Penn Dental Medicine is moving
its instruction forward with a
cutting-edge, advanced-simulation
training experience that looks
and feels like the real thing.
OPPOSITE: With the simulated handpiece (in the right
hand) and the simulated mirror (in the left), students
feel the tooth preparation in virtual reality and see the
tooth preparation and instruments (above) through the
Simodont screen.
dental training units, which deliver an
incredibly realistic virtual reality simulation
of dental procedures.
Although Simodont units are being
used at schools in Europe and Asia, Penn
Dental Medicine is the first dental school in
North or South America to integrate the
technology into its curriculum. As the number of units increases, says Dr. Maggio, Penn
Dental Medicine will become “a showcase
for other schools” across the country.
“Penn Dental Medicine has been at
the forefront of virtual reality in preclinical
training for the past 13 years,” she says.
“With the use of the Simodont, we are moving
into a new phase: we’re matching virtual
reality with sensitivity to touch.”
Dr. Markus Blatz, Chair and Professor
of Restorative Dentistry, is excited about the
many ways in which this advanced-simulation
technology will benefit Penn Dental Medicine
students. “Through the sheer endless possibilities of these units, we can simulate the
Ask anyone who has tried both traditional
advanced-simulation technology, which uses
replaceable plastic teeth that fit into plastic
model heads, and the advanced haptic simulation experience provided by a Simodont
unit, to compare the two, and the answer will
most likely be that the difference is in the
feel. Manufactured by The Netherlandsbased Moog, which for years has created
highly realistic flight simulators for pilots
and astronauts in training, haptic technology
allows the user to “feel” the difference
between different layers of a tooth. “Plastic
feels like plastic. But with the Simodont,
enamel feels like enamel, dentin feels like
dentin, pulp feels like pulp, and a root feels
like a root,” explains Dr. Maggio.
The result is a much more realistic
training experience that allows students to
see (using 3-D glasses for depth perception)
and work on a virtual tooth, with different
colors representing its layers (dentin is
yellow and pulp is red, for example), and to
“feel” what makes each layer unique using
virtual dental instruments. Most users begin
their training by practicing cutting out different
shapes with the virtual drill, choosing a level
of difficulty, and selecting the proper bur.
HAPTICTECHNOLOGY
When they have mastered the various levels
of drilling skills, they graduate to working
on a virtual tooth, which they select through
a virtual case study, complete with patient
photo, background, patient history, and
treatment plan. They are tasked with selecting
the proper virtual tools to drill or scoop out
decayed tooth sections and fill the cavity.
In addition, says Dr. Maggio, “By pressing a
button, students can see a filling in the tooth
that’s been overfilled, and, by choosing the
correct hand piece or hand instrument, they
can refine the filling back to the anatomy
of the tooth.”
In addition, “The Simodont simulation
requires students to learn to use the mirror
at an earlier stage” than they would otherwise, says Dr. Maggio, and in a more accurate
way. With traditional simulations, she explains,
it is possible to “cheat” when learning indirect vision procedures on the maxillary arch
by repositioning the model or the student’s
own body in ways that would not be possible
in real life, but with a Simodont, students are
required to learn to hold and use the mirror
the correct way, and to use it properly each
time. She also admires the way that a
Simodont unit can adapt, at the click of a
button, to a right- or left-handed student.
“With our old units, we had a separate unit
for left-handed students that sat idle otherwise,”
she says. “That’s not necessary now.”
ABOVE: Students identify the carious lesion and draw
the outline for the preparation on the unit’s interactive
case presentation screen.
TOP: Dr. Margit Maggio, describing the use of the
Simodont.
OPPOSITE: First-year students Brittany Gragg (D’17)
and Harold Robinson, III (D’17), working on tooth preparations on the Simodont units.
that graduates of all ages will have the
impressive and eye-opening experience of
trying haptic technology—and comparing
the state-of-the-art simulation to the reality
of practice.
REALISTIC, COST-EFFECTIVE, AND
WELL DESIGNED
All of these capabilities mark the advent
of a new era in virtual reality teaching, she
says: “The Simodont is particularly effective
in developing psychomotor skills through
the ease of repeating a lesson. And through
the way the lessons are structured, it teaches
students to think and practice at the same
time.”
A COLLABORATIVE AGREEMENT
Dr. Maggio, who counts advanced simulation
among her ongoing research interests, has
been following the development of the
Simodont with great interest over the past
several years. She has been in regular contact
with Moog, its manufacturer, to check on its
progress, waiting for the right moment to
introduce the new technology to her students.
Through an agreement with Moog, she will
be continuing to work with the company to
establish requirements for new software for
the North American market, evaluate the
educational benefits of adding Simodont to
the curriculum, and developing a cost-ofownership model to help other schools
understand the costs versus benefits of the
new technology. In addition, Dr. Maggio has
agreed to work closely with Moog to explore
the development of new curriculum for the
units, noting the potential for applications
like suturing, periodontic scaling, and
lessons in endodontics: “There are so many
possibilities!”
Penn Dental Medicine’s fully outfitted
advanced simulation lab will feature 12 units
—ten new units as well as updates to its two
existing units. At press time, it was anticipated that all 12 units would be in place by
this year’s Alumni Weekend , May 16-18, so
While this year’s class of first-year students
have had a relatively short introduction to
this advanced simulation, Dr. Maggio plans
to begin next year’s Operative Dentistry
class with complete immersion in the technology, using a summer session offered to
college students considering the field of
dental medicine as a chance to refine the
classroom experience. Gradually, she may
also bring second-year students into the
lab to use the Simodont units to train for
more complicated procedures, such as crowns.
Despite their limited time on the
Simodont units, members of the inaugural
class formed immediate impressions of the
technology. “You can tell the difference
between enamel and dentin,” says John Shue,
(D ’16). “That’s not something we were ever
able to do before.”
The beauty of the Simodont unit, he
adds, is that unlike the old technology using
replaceable plastic teeth, the virtual digital
teeth cannot be destroyed. In fact, a new
tooth is only a click away.
“There’s a reset button,” says Shue, “so
there’s a lot less stress about messing up.”
With this newfound freedom, he says, “you
can press the boundaries rather than having
to be conservative,” leading to stronger
skills overall.
Poolak Bhatt, (D ’16), agrees. “Being
able to reset saves time, and we don’t have
to worry about wasting materials.” Although
he watched a YouTube video on the Simodont
before he tried it, he was still unprepared for
the intensity of the experience. “It was a lot
more realistic than I expected,” he says.
“You can actually feel two [virtual]
instruments clicking together,” and it feels
just like two metal instruments would actually
feel, he adds.
The Simodont is not only highly realistic,
cost-effective, and convenient, it’s also well
designed and fun to use, says Taylor Hagler,
(D ’16), an avid video gamer. “The screen is
very cool,” he explains. “The controls are
intuitive and they make sense.”
Dr. Maggio looks forward to a day in
the near future, when, with all the Simodont
units in place, students can receive additional
practice at night or during their free time,
simply by coming to the lab and swiping a
card. “Our old technology was too fragile for
me to allow students to use it unsupervised,”
she says, but the new units will provide
students with as much practice as they need,
at no additional cost, in and out of class.
SHAPING THE FUTURE
The new Simodont technology is among the
first steps in plans for a major transformation
of facilities within the historic Evans Building.
This renaissance of this landmark structure
will not only include a new space for the
Simodont advanced simulation lab, but will
also create a new Preclinical Lab and CE
Training Center, a new primary care clinic,
a new library, and new student spaces and
administrative offices. The result will be a
state-of-the-art, technologically advanced
dental learning environment that will rival
any nationwide.
“A Simodont will never replace an
instructor,” says Dr. Maggio, whose Simodont
teaching screen will allow her to monitor
the simulation work of all 12 student users
simultaneously, “but it can help students to
practice the same skill over and over” until
it’s perfect. Haptic technology is cost-effective
and convenient, but most importantly, it
greatly increases opportunities for more
realistic practice, which she believes will
ultimately result in improved skills and
better patient care.
—By Juliana Delany
CLASSNOTES
NEWS FROM FELLOW ALUMNI
1960’s
1980s
Arnold S. Weisgold (GD’65) received
the 2013 Achievement Medal from the
Alpha Omega Dental Fraternity.
Mark B. Desrosiers (D’84) is currently
serving as the President of the
Connecticut State Dental Association.
He recently became a Diplomate of the
American Board of Endodontics and
was inducted into the American and
International Colleges of Dentists.
1970s
Louis F. Rose (GD’70) received the
2013 American Academy of
Periodontology (AAP) Gold Medal
Award, which is the highest honor
bestowed by the AAP.
Joseph E. Gian-Grasso (C’67, D’71) has
been appointed as President of the
Academy of Osseointegration.
Jeffrey S. Ingber (GD’72) was
appointed Director of the Honors
Program in Clinical Dentistry in the
Department of Preventive and
Restorative Sciences at Penn Dental
Medicine.
1990s
Wayne S. Atebara (D’86) was honored
for his service as President of the
American Board of Oral and
Maxillofacial Surgery on October 12,
2013; he continues to serve on the
Board as Immediate Past President.
Stuart E. Lieblich (D’81) was promoted
to Clinical Professor at the University of
Connecticut School of Dental Medicine,
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial
Surgery. In addition to his faculty
responsibilities, Dr. Lieblich is in private
practice in Avon, Conn., and has published over 40 articles and 20 textbook
chapters in his field.
James P. Murphy (D’88) had the pleasure of performing his craft of dentistry
on Tory Island, Donegal Ireland this
past November. In the day that he
spent there, he treated eight patients
who had not seen a dentist on over two
years.
Jay M. Rossell (D’73) was a United
States Air Force dentist for 24 years
before retiring in 1997. Following his
service, he was a contract dentist from
1997-2008 before retiring from patient
care in 2008 due to glaucoma.
EDITORIAL CORRECTION
In the fall issue of the Penn Dental
Medicine Journal, the winner of the
Charlotte J. Sullivan Award was
incorrectly reported. Our apologies
and congratulations to Ann E. Eshenaur
Spolarich (DH’82, GED’99), who
received the Charlotte J. Sullivan Award
given by the Penn Dental Hygiene
Alumni Association for her significant
contributions to advancing the profession.
After 30 years of general practice in
Southern California, John Burk (D’74)
retired in 2006 and now writes articles
for a local newspaper, does wood working, and manages a cattle ranch.
Ellen Eisenberg (D’74) received the
first Distinguished Faculty Award from
the University of Connecticut School of
Dental Medicine Alumni Board on
November 2, 2013.
Barry P. Setzer (GD’77) was honored
with the 2013 Humanitarian Award
from Florida Dental Association’s
Florida Dental Health Foundation for 35
years of service to the Jacksonville
Cleft Palate Clinic. Dr. Setzer was also
inducted into the International College
of Dentists in 2012 and was recently
elected to the Board of Trustees of the
Florida Dental Association in 2014.
On the cover of the 2014 ADEA Official
Guide to Dental Schools are Olivia
Sheridan (D’90, GD’92), Matthew
Ryskalczyk (D’13), and Marni Glick
(D’12), featured in a photo at Penn
Dental Medicine when Matthew and
Marni were still students at the school.
Gerry M. Dubin (D’82) was very proud to attend the white coat ceremony for the
Penn Dental Medicine Class of 2017 with his son, Seth Dubin (D'17) and his
brother, Brian C. Dubin (D '70). Dr. Dubin started District Mobile Dental LLC, a
completely mobile dental services provider, specializing in full- service dental care
for assisted living communities, senior homes, and in-home or business concierge
dental visits.
CORRECTION OF FY13 HONOR ROLL
In the FY13 Honor Roll listing of supporters of Penn Dental Medicine, which
appeared in the Fall 2013 issue of the
Penn Dental Medicine Journal, the donor
category of Olivia Sheridan, D’90,
GD’92, was incorrectly noted. In FY13,
Dr. Sheridan generously supported
Penn Dental Medicine at the Benjamin
Franklin Society Associate level
($2,500–$4,999).
2000s
Vrishali Gujar (D’09) and husband
Gautam Govitrikar (D’07) welcomed
their first daughter, Ela, to the world on
August 27.
2010s
Some of the newest alumni—Dean’s
Scholars from the Class of 2014—got
together as a group before heading off
to the next stage of their dental
careers. Margaret Buell is pursuing a
GPR; Fred Chen, pediatrics; Milda
Chmieliauskaite, oral medicine; Neeti
Desai, GPR; Maryam Hajialiakbari,
public health; Latisha Henderson,
orthodontics; Lamarr Holland, GPR;
Isaac Kuyunov, GPR; Everett Lin, orthodontics; Christine Martin, orthodontics; Marla
Martinez, private practice; Ronak
Mody, orthodontics; Nicholas Mueller,
oral surgery; Kruti Patel, GPR; Neel
Patel, OMFS; Ernesto Perez, GPR;
Alexandra Radu, oral surgery; Scott
Sakowitz, orthodontics; Haim Tawil,
orthodontics; Carlton Taylor, oral
surgery; Daniela Turcinov, GPR;
Katharine Woehling, pediatrics; Justin
Zimmer, oral surgery; and Matthew
Zimmer, pediatrics.
Share
Your News
We want to hear from you. Share
your news on personal and professional accomplishments with your
fellow Penn Dental Medicine
alumni through the Class Notes
section of the Penn Dental Medicine
Journal. We have made it easy for
you to make a submission—simply go
to www.dental.upenn.edu/classnotes
where you can quickly send us your
information—we welcome photos
as well.
Or, you can send your
submissions to:
Robert Schattner Center
University of Pennsylvania
School of Dental Medicine
Office of Development and
Alumni Relations
240 South 40th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6030
Save the Date for
Alumni Weekend 2015!
Return to Penn Dental Medicine for Alumni
Weekend 2015, May 15-17, and join friends and
classmates in celebrating reunions for classes
ending in “0” and “5”! Stay up to date at
www.dental.upenn.edu/AW2015 starting this summer.
GET INVOLVED!
If you are interested in volunteering for your class
reunion, please contact us at 215-898-8951 or
[email protected]
215-898-8951 (p)
[email protected]
INMEMORIAM
B. Rakusin Ableman,(DH’31)
Silver Spring, MD; September 13, 2013
Robert D. Schweitzer (D’55)
Westhampton Beach, NY; January 2014
Barnet M. Levy (C’38, D’42)
Englewood, NJ; March 3, 2014
Daniel A. Bomberger (D’55)
Litiz, PA; November 23, 2013
William A. Sheehan (D’39)
Albany, NY; December 31, 2013
Leon Kussick (D’56)
Redmond, WA; January 29, 2013
Samuel Hahn (C’40, D’42)
Palm Harbor, FL; January 20, 2014
Richard J. Zeigler (D’56)
Osterville, MA; September 28, 2013
Arnold M. Geiger (D’41)
White Plains, NY; January 2014
John Bruce Dunlop (D’57)
Stroudsburg, PA; September 20, 2013
James R. Warner, Jr. (C’42, D’43)
Bellport, NY; January 17, 2014
Col. Charles L. Hughes (D’57)
Sierra Vista, AZ; November 5, 2013
Herbert Paskow (C’43, D’45)
Sarasota, FL; November 13, 2013
Paul S. Kaufman (D’57)
Floral Park, NY; July 16, 2013
Marilyn Johnson Mannion (DH’45)
Falls Village, CT; November 1, 2013
James D. Sheen (D’59)
Gettysburg, PA; September 21, 2013
Dr. Golub first joined the School’s faculty in 1977, rising through the
ranks to full Professor in 1990. He held the leadership post of
Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry from 1996-2003 and
later served again as Interim Chair from 2009-2013.
Dr. Golub’s research primarily focused on two key areas: calcification of hard tissues and computer applications in biochemistry and
molecular biology. He had been involved in the development of
computer programs for prediction and graphical display of protein
secondary structure from sequence. In the calcification area, he focused
on the cellular mechanisms necessary for initiating hard tissue mineral
formation. His teaching activities included biochemistry courses for
first-year dental students and lectures to postdoctoral dental students.
Mortimer L. Weisenfeld (D’47)
Roslyn Heights, NY; September 2013
Richard P. Dakin (D’59)
Philadelphia, PA; December 29, 2013
Joseph E. McKeone (D’47)
Rockford, IL; December 20, 2013
Howard S. Glaser (GD’60)
Roxbury, CT; May 12, 2013
Mary Ohs Craig (DH’48)
Camp Hill, PA; November 16, 2013
Everett P. Borghesani (D’60, GD’64)
Berwyn, PA; August 30, 2013
Kenneth E. Lebaron (D’48)
Sudbury, MA; August 12, 2013
Carl A. Mohr (D’60)
West Chester, PA; September 30, 2013
Maj. Gen. Arthur J. Sachsel (D’50)
Riverside, CA; September 19, 2013
Stephen R. Matteson (D’62)
San Antonio, TX; January 6, 2014
Leon A. Weiss (GD’50)
Swampscott, MA; September 2013
Robert L. Massucco (D’63)
Mount Desert, ME; January 21, 2014
Dr. Dakin was a passionate clinical instructor, who also maintained a
private practice from 1961-2000. He joined the Penn Dental Medicine
faculty in 1963, serving as an Associate Professor of Fixed Prosthodontics till 1974. In 2000, he returned to the faculty as a Clinical
Associate, Department of Preventive & Restorative Sciences, and in
2003, he was appointed Clinical Assistant Professor of Restorative
Dentistry.
Chester W. Taylor (D’51)
Winchester, VA; December 17, 2013
Stanley E. Ross (D’63, GD’65)
Wellington, FL; February 12, 2013
Daniel M. Burns (D’51)
East Berne, NY; September 28, 2013
Irving O. Thomas, Jr. (D’64)
Naples, FL; August 30, 2013
J. Herbert Arnold (D’51)
Charleston, SC; January 31, 2014
Manuel H. Marks (GD’65)
Tucson, AZ; December 14, 2013
John W. Burgess (D’52)
Central Square, NY; December 10, 2013
Ronald Feldberg (D’75)
Voorhees, NJ; October 15, 2013
Jack Wister Thrash (D’52)
Dunedin, FL; March 1, 2014
Alice M. Amsterdam (D’78, GD’81)
Bala Cynwyd, PA; December 22, 2013
Edward F. Johannemann (D’52)
South Orleans, MA; March 16, 2014
Adrian J. Donaghue (D’81)
Media, PA; March 12, 2014
Edward R. Knoll (D’53)
Fisherville, VA; September 16, 2013
David P. Schleimer (D’83)
Alamo, CA; January 11, 2014
REMEMBERING MEMBERS OF THE
PENN DENTAL MEDICINE COMMUNITY
The Penn Dental Medicine community warmly remembers four
highly respected faculty members—Dr. Ellis Eckstein Golub, Professor,
Department of Biochemistry, who passed away on January 22,
Dr. Richard P. Dakin (D’59), Clinical Assistant Professor of Restorative
Dentistry, who passed December 29, Dr. Adrian Donaghue, Clinical
Associate, Department of Preventive & Restorative Sciences, who
passed March 12, and Dr. Alice Morse Amsterdam (D’78, GD’81), who
passed on December 22. Drs. Golub, Dakin, and Donaghue were all
active faculty members at the time of their deaths.
Dr. Donaghue was a member of the Penn Dental Medicine faculty
since 1997 in various roles, remembered by colleagues and students
for his great spirit and dedication to teaching. He also maintained a
cosmetic dentistry practice in Media, Pa.
Dr. Amsterdam, who served as a group leader of clinical instruction
during her time on the Penn Dental Medicine faculty in the 1980s, was
an inspiration to many. She forged a path for women in dentistry as the
first female graduate of Penn Dental Medicine’s combined Periodontic/
Orthodontic postdoctoral program in 1981, and practiced in Havertown
for 20 years. She was the wife of Penn Dental Medicine alumnus Dr.
John Amsterdam (D’71, WG’72), and the daughter-in-law of Dr. Morton
Amsterdam (C’43, D’45), Professor Emeritus, Department of Periodontics.
Charles H. Wolfe (D’54)
Lancaster, PA; February 23, 2014
William A. Margolis (C’54, D’57)
Trappe, PA; March 13, 2014
Adrian P. Hulsebosch (D’55)
Elmira, NY; October 25, 2013
PENN DENTAL MEDICINE ALUMNI SOCIETY
2013-2014 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Lee B. Durst-Roisman, D’83
President
Robert E. Weiner, C’72, D’79
First Vice-President
Bernard W. Kurek, D’73, WMP’03, WEV’04
Second Vice-President
Members-at-Large
Judith Zack Bendit, DH’81
Hope Berman, C’77, D’83
Stefani L. Cheung, C’08, D’11
Gail Spiegel Cohen, C’76, D’80
Kimberly A. Farrell, D’11
Paul Feldman, D’83
Charlene Fenster, DH’75
Catherine Foote, C’00, D’04, GD’06
Marshall J. Goldin, C’60, D’64
Dan Han, D’07, GD’11
Sam S. Kadan, D’95
Alisa G. Kauffman, D’85
Elena Kurtz, D’04, GD’06
Jeff Li, D’12
Riddhi Patel, D’13
Michael B. Rulnick, D’74, GD’76
Matt Ryskalzyck, D’13
Donald H. Silverman, D’73, WG’74
Thomas L. Snyder, D’71, WG’74
Matt Sones, D’12
Robert Marc Stern, D’87
Elana Walker, GD’09, GD’10
Robert E. Weiner, C’72, D’79
Edwin J. Zimmet, D’70
Past Presidents
Keith D. Libou, D’84
Spencer-Carl Saint Cyr, D’97
Tara Sexton, D’88
Marc B. Ackerman, D’98
Anna Kornbrot, D’79, GD’82
Lewis E. Proffitt, D’73, WG’80
Margrit M. Maggio, D’87
Laurence G. Chacker, D’85
Michael D. Yasner, C’79, D’83, GD’84, GD’86
BOARD OF OVERSEERS
PDMJ ADVISORY COMMITTEE
William W. M. Cheung, D’81, GD’82, Chair
Stanley M. Bergman
Richard Copell, D’80, Campaign Co-Chair
William De Vizio, DMD
Matthew J. Doyle, PhD
Patrik Eriksson
Madeline Monaco, PhD, MS, MEd
Lewis E. Proffitt, D’73, WG’80
Robert I. Schattner, D’48
Alfred L. Spencer, Jr.
David Tai-Man Shen, D’79, GD’81
David S. Tarica, D’83, Campaign Co-Chair
Pr. Georges Tawil
Umit Yigit, C’81, D’86
Robert Zou, WG’94
Beth Adams
Director of Publications
Ex Officio Members
Martin D. Levin, D'72, GD'74, Chair, Dean’s Council
Lee B. Durst-Roisman , D’83, President, Alumni Society
DEAN’S COUNCIL
Martin Levin, D’72, GD’74, Chair
Robert Brody, C’80, D’84
Joseph P. Fiorellini, DMD, DMSc
Joseph Gian-Grasso, C’67, D’71
Elliot Hersh, DMD, MS, PhD
Glen Oxner
Howard Rosa, D’82
Louis Rossman, D’75, GD’77
Tara Sexton, D’88
David Silver, D’85, GD’86, GD’88
Dr. Markus Blatz
Professor of Restorative Dentistry
Chair, Department of Preventive & Restorative Sciences
Sarah Burton
Director of Alumni Relations & Annual Giving
Corky Cacas
Director of Admissions
Maren Gaughan
Associate Dean for Development & Alumni Relations
Dr. Dana Graves
Professor, Department of Periodontics
Vice Dean for Research and Scholarship
Dr. Margrit Maggio
Assistant Professor of Clinical Restorative Dentistry
Director of Operative Dentistry
Director of the Advanced Simulation Laboratory
Dr. Robert Ricciardi
Professor, Department of Microbiology
Chair, Department of Microbiology
Susan Schwartz
Assistant Dean for Student Affairs
Dr. Thomas Sollecito
Professor of Oral Medicine
Chair, Department of Oral Medicine
OFFICE OF DEVELOPMENT
& ALUMNI RELATIONS
(215) 898-8951
[email protected]
Ex Officio Members
Jaclyn M. Gleber, DH’74
The University of Pennsylvania values diversity and seeks talented students, faculty and staff from diverse backgrounds. The University of Pennsylvania does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation,
gender identity, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin, citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status or any
other legally protected class status in the administration of its admissions, financial aid, educational or athletic
programs, or other University-administered programs or in its employment practices. Questions or complaints
regarding this policy should be directed to the Executive Director of the Office of Affirmative Action and Equal
Opportunity Programs, Sansom Place East, 3600 Chestnut Street, Suite 228, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6106; or
(215) 898-6993 (Voice) or (215) 898-7803 (TDD).
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