The faculty in the Department of Orthodontics had a substantial presence in the local and national meetings. The 69th Annual Meeting of the Iowa Section of the AADOCR was held on February 15, 2022. The residents and students mentored by the orthodontic faculty – Dr. Lina Moreno, Dr. Kyungsup Shin, Dr. Shankar Rengasamy Venugopalan and Dr. Brad Amendt – put a stellar performance in showcasing their research discoveries. There were a total of 13 abstracts from the Department of Orthodontics, a phenomenal feat, which was only possible with the support of dedicated faculty and committed residents and students.

At the 2022 AADOCR/CADR meeting held in Atlanta, GA, Dr. Lina Moreno and Dr. Shankar Rengasamy Venugopalan were invited guest speakers in the “Harnessing Power to Study Disease/Dysmorphology with Phenotyping & Genomic Data Symposium”; Dr. Moreno and Dr. Rengasamy Venugopalan gave a lecture on the genomics of soft tissue facial variation and craniofacial microsomia respectively. This symposium was well attended and garnered the praise of meeting attendees. At this meeting, Dr. Kyungsup Shin gave an engaging lecture on “Therapeutic Potential of Mesenchymal Stem Cell Derived Exosomes for Fibrocartilage Repair”. Dr. Brad Amendt – a research faculty in the department – gave a lecture focused on understanding the role of miR–26b in ectodermal organ development. This cutting edge research enhances our understanding of tooth agenesis and a possible small molecule based intervention for regenerating dental structures. In addition, Dr. Aline Petrin, another research faculty in the department of orthodontics, has made seminal discoveries in understanding the biological mechanisms underpinning cleft–lip/palate congenital defects. Her work as was showcased in three wonderful abstracts, as an author or co-author, in the 2022 AADOCR/CADR annual meeting.