Front, L to R: Kelley Gyllenhaal, Dr. David Wong, Mat Wietecha Back, L to R: Xuanyu Lu, Kaitrin Baloue, Joshua Padovano, Ariel Johnson, Christine Politis, Yoshi Ito, Stephanie Tymen

On April 28, 2011, the Student Research Group hosted a special guest, Dr. David T. Wong of UCLA, a distinguished scientist and leader in the exciting field of salivary diagnostics. Dr. Wong was invited to UIC to give a seminar about his groundbreaking research to the student and faculty body. Dr. Wong is the immediate-past President of the American Association for Dental Research (AADR) and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He currently holds the Felix and Mildred Yip Endowed Professorship at the UCLA School of Dentistry, and he has been the school's Associate Dean of Research since 2004.

A large and diverse audience of dental students and faculty from across the campus and other Chicago universities filled up Lecture Hall South to hear Dr. Wong's seminar, entitled "Saliva: the New Diagnostic Frontier." Dr. Wong explained how his lab is currently spearheading pioneering research investigating the potential of using saliva as a diagnostic fluid. Dr. Wong's lab has identified several salivary "biomarkers"—biological molecules that can be reliably detected in patients' saliva and correlated with both oral and systemic diseases. One exciting prospect his lab is working on is correlating certain biomarkers with oral squamous cell carcinoma. The five-year survival rate of OSCC has not significantly increased within the past several decades; early detection of such a disease using salivary technology could vastly improve the prognosis. His lab has also published papers on salivary biomarkers associated with lung, breast, and pancreatic cancers. Other labs have shown that saliva can be reliably used to detect disease-indicating biomarkers in periodontal disease, oral inflammatory conditions, and even diabetes.

Dr. Wong explained that the use of saliva as a diagnostic tool is appealing because its collection is quick, easy, and non-invasive. Furthermore, very little training is required to collect saliva from patients—the procedure could be easily performed by nurses, dental assistants, or community healthcare workers—and thus has the potential to greatly increase access to care and decrease health disparity. He believes that this technology will revolutionize the practice of dentistry in the near future, giving dentists the point-of-care testing ability to diagnose diseases early and play an expanded role in preventative medicine as well as in the treatment of patients' overall health.

In addition to giving a thrilling seminar, Dr. Wong was also able to spend an extended period of time during the day interacting with student members of the SRG. He met with Joshua Padovano (D1, DMD/PhD), Kelley Gyllenhaal (D2, SRG Vice-President) and Mat Wietecha, (DMD/PhD, SRG President) for breakfast, and, following the seminar, Dr. Wong had lunch with ten DDS, PhD, and dual-degree students (see photo). The students enjoyed a stimulating discussion about the future of salivary diagnostics and the increasingly important role of research in dentistry. It was inspirational to have such a distinguished scientist praise UIC's students on their commitment to research. He gave advice on how students should go about choosing how to integrate research into their own careers—indicating that the most important thing is to follow one's passion. Dr. Wong's parting words of wisdom were to not let the "fire" of scientific curiosity die through the ups-and-downs of the students' respective training programs.

The SRG is grateful to Dr. Luisa DiPietro, Dr. Wendy Cerny of the Center for Wound Healing and Tissue Regeneration, and the MOST Program funded by NIDCR. Dr. Wong's visit is the inaugural seminar of what will be an annual research series organized by the SRG.

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SRG members pose for a photo at the scenic San Diego Convention Center. From L to R: Cassandra McKenzie (D1), Mat Wietecha (DMD/PhD), Kelley Gyllenhaal (D2), Christine Politis (DMD/PhD), Joshua Padovano (DMD/PhD), Ariel Johnson (PhD).

The 89th annual IADR general session was held March 16-19 this year in San Diego, California. The meeting was attended by dentists and dental researchers from across the globe and provided well over 3,000 scientific abstracts. There was a general poster viewing area where attendees could walk through and talk one-on-one with poster presenters. Also, there were symposia where student researchers and accomplished scientists gave short, oral presentations on a common topic during an hour-long session. Evenings at the conference were full of interest group dinners and receptions. Dentsply sponsored a student and faculty advisor reception that allowed dental student researchers from across the country to network and socialize. Additionally, the National Student Research Group (NSRG) offered plenary sessions and symposia for students attending the conference. One of the events hosted by the NSRG allowed students to interact with a panel of scientists that have followed different career paths in research. Another session hosted by the NSRG assisted students in planning their graduate work and receiving advice directly from NIH-NIDCR representatives. The NSRG also held a dinner reception for dental student researchers at the Yard House in San Diego.

Fifteen UIC College of Dentistry students attended and presented their work as either a poster, similar to Clinic and Research Day, or by oral presentation. Each year, the AADR component of the IADR awards Bloc Travel Grants to support the travel of U.S. dental students to the conference. This year, the college had four recipients: Kaitrin Baloue (DMD/PhD student), Smit Dangaria (PhD student), Jianjun Hou (PhD student), and Mateusz Wietecha (DMD/PhD student). While at the conference, four students competed and placed in competitions showcasing their work. Bojana Bojovic (DDS/PhD student) competed in the AADR Dentsply/Caulk Basic Sciences Competition and achieved second place overall with her poster titled, "Stem Cell Expansion and Metastasis." Meanwhile, Smit Dangaria and Chun-Chieh Huang (PhD student) both competed in the AADR/Johnson & Johnson Oral health Products Hatton Award – Senior Category competition. Kaitrin Baloue competed in the Hatton Award's Junior Category and placed second overall at the AADR level, advancing to the IADR/Unilever Divisional Competition. Kaitrin was also inducted as the President of the NSRG at their annual business meeting and will serve for the 2011-2012 fiscal year. In addition to the many student awards received at this year's IADR meeting, our very own Dr. Luisa DiPietro was presented with the prestigious Mentor of the Year award by the NSRG executive board.

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UIC alumnus and benefactor, Dr. Seymour Gottlieb, visited and enjoyed lunch with past recipients of the Dr. Isaac Schour Memorial Dentistry Student Research Award. From L to R: Dr. Luisa DiPietro, Nisha Mehta (award: 2010), Dr. Gottlieb, Cassandra McKenzie (award: 2010), Ariel Johnson, Mat Wietecha (award: 2008), and Jongnuk Lee (award: 2009)

While postponed by the "snow-pocalypse" that hit Chicago in February, UIC's Clinic and Research day thrived during its rescheduled day on March 3rd. Attendees with diverse knowledge levels of both clinical and basic science dental research flooded the fourth of fifth floors of the College of Dentistry. Enthusiasm and inquiry for dental research expressed by both exhibitors and attendees created a melting pot for dental research discussion and education. Posters were created by summer research students, graduate students, dental students, clinicians and ultimately displayed research findings in the realms of both basic science and clinical case studies. Exhibitors presented their work for multiple sets of judges, and were evaluated on not only the quality of their work, but on their ability to answer questions posed to them by the judging committees. As a first year exhibitor myself, I found the experience to be a challenge of both my scholarly and physical endurance. My poster contained images of iguanas and protein sequences and I found the opportunity to explain their correlation to a vast group of spectators exhilarating (perhaps the fatigue of standing in front of a poster for multiple hours aided in this adrenal rush). The exhibitors were rewarded for their hard work and preparation with a catered lunch, raffle, and award ceremony. Helping to interweave the entirety of the College of Dentistry's faculty/staff/students, this unique day was never stunted by the inclement weather that is common to the city of Chicago. Make sure to put this event on your Doppler radar next year (pun intended)!

Check out this year's Clinic and Research Day award winners by visiting: http://dentistry.uic.edu/depts/research/cnr.cfm

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Group photo of undergraduate research participants and SRG members during UIC's first annual Pre-dental Undergraduate Research Symposium on Saturday, April 2, 2011.

The first annual Pre-Dental Undergraduate Research Symposium was held at the College of Dentistry on April 2nd, 2011. The event was organized by the UIC Student Research Group with the sponsorship of the Office of Research and the Chicago chapter of the American Association of Dental Research. Nine pre-dental students from five different universities were represented (please see below). The event opened with a welcome from Kaitrin Baloue, 3rd year DMD/PhD student, followed by remarks from Dr. Pendleton, Associate Dean for Student and Diversity Affairs, Dr. Marucha, Associate Dean for Research and Director of Graduate Studies, and Dr. Margaret Jonah (Dominican University), President of the Chicago chapter of the AADR. We heard an inspirational talk by keynote speaker Dr. Luisa DiPietro titled "Dentist, Scientist, Mentor, and Teacher: An Academic Life at UIC." Dr. DiPietro is the Director for the Center of Wound Healing and this year's recipient of the AADR National Student Research Group Mentor of the Year Award. Following the first poster session, 3rd year DMD/PhD student Mat Wietecha, SRG President, gave a presentation titled, "The Control of Blood Vessel Growth and Regression During Wound Healing." After the second poster session, the symposium wrapped up with a delicious lunch, tour of the dental school, and a question and answer session with current students and Dr. Marucha. Special thanks to the fellow UIC students who volunteered their time and expertise: Ariel Johnson, 2nd year PhD student, Xuanyu Lu, 2nd year PhD student, Kelley Gyllenhaal, 2nd year DDS student, and Josh Padovano, 1st year DMD/PhD student. The first annual symposium was an incredibly successful event. The Student Research Group is looking forward to organizing a bigger, better event for next year! Thanks again to those who participated.

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