(L. to R.) Dean Dr. Walter Siqueira, Rima Siauciunaite, Bradley Bigsby, Juan Buitrago, Andrea Escalante-Herrera, Angha Himanshu Naik, Kovie Luu, Dr. Dina Moussa, Dr. Michelle Siqueira, Dr. Keith Da Silva.

Research on agenda for faculty, students attending AADOCR/CADR meeting

College of Dentistry faculty and students will present during a gathering of oral health researchers from across North America.

Research conducted at the College of Dentistry will be well-represented during the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR) and Canadian Association for Dental Research (CADR) annual meeting — North America’s most prestigious dental, oral and craniofacial research conference.

Faculty and students will share research and discussion with oral health scientists from across Canada and the United States during the event March 15-18, 2023, in Portland, OR.

“Without question, this is the largest group of college researchers attending the AADOCR/CADR meeting,” said Dr. Walter Siqueira, dean of the College of Dentistry. “This growing number of participants attending and sharing their knowledge in North America's most important oral health research conference demonstrates the quality of research produced in our college.”

Eight individuals earned the opportunity to present after being chosen as winners of CADR-NCOHR Student Research Awards announced last fall. Presentations are seven minutes in length and are followed by a brief question period.

  • Bradley Bigsby, Dentinal microcracks after endodontic treatment: a longitudinal study using synchrotron-imaging.
  • Juan Buitrago, Examining Dental Unit Waterline Testing Practices Over an 11-year Period.
  • Sara Hasell, The oral health status of children living with autism spectrum disorder.
  • Andrea Escalante-Herrera, Degradation of histatin 5 as a marker of periodontal disease.
  • Ibrahim Hoja, Effectiveness of Porphine Molecules and Tea Tree Oil in Preventing Dental Caries Development.
  • Kovie Luu, An Evaluation of Dental Continuing Professional Development Programs in the United States and Canada.
  • Angha Himanshu Naik, The terpenoid celastrol antagonizes transforming growth factor (TGF) β-induced gene expression in human gingival fibroblasts.
  • Rima Siauciunaite, Oral cancer pathogenesis and treatment: effects of circadian clock disruption.

The college and its research efforts will also be represented at AADOCR/CADR by several faculty members.

Dean Dr. Walter Siqueira is one of 20 mentors from across North America invited by NIDCR/NIH to take part in the ADOCR/CADR/NIDCR Mentoring and Networking Lunch. Siqueira is the only Canadian researcher invited to participate. The event’s sessions will facilitate interaction among the next generation of predoctoral students, postdoctoral scientists and dental, oral and craniofacial research investigators. Early career scientists will have the opportunity to obtain guidance on their research and career trajectories and expand their mentor and peer networks. Siqueira will also chair a symposium, Saliva Omics for Diagnostics and Biomarker Discovery, at the meeting.

Other college members will be presenting research findings in the areas of population health, Indigenous health, salivary proteomics, dental education research, and cariology.

Dr. Amrinderbir Singh (assistant professor) will chair the symposium Addressing Oral Health Inequities in Priority Populations in Canada that will examine upstream, systemic factors that influence social determinants of oral health. As part of the symposium, Trish Goulet (assistant professor) will present on mandating Indigenous cultural safety for Canadian health profession students to address oral health inequities.

In another session, Dr. Lina Marin (assistant professor) will present her research findings Recent Advances on State-of-the-Art Mass Spectrometry Proteomics for the Identification of Biomarkers in Salvia.

In a dental education research session, Dr. Michelle Siqueira (assistant professor) will share her research Enhancing Infection Control Consciousness in Dentistry at the Undergraduate Level.

In the area of cariology and enamel pellicle bioengineering, Dr. Dina Moussa, a postdoctoral fellow from Walter Siqueira’s lab, will discuss the next generation of stable salivary peptides for the prevention and treatment of dental caries. This is based on her research, Structure-Function Analysis for Antifouling Enamel Pellicles of Protein/Peptide Hybridized Conjugates.