Dr. Alex Rubinov, a third-year resident in the Department of Periodontics, was named the winner of ePoster competition at the Academy of Osseointegration's annual meeting on March 29 in Seattle, Washington.

Dr. Bobera presented "Altered Immune-Metabolomic Axis in Overweight and Obesity" at the AADOCR Research Day on Tuesday, February 11th. He was awarded first prize in the Max Smith Oral Presentation Post-Doctoral Competition.

A University of Iowa researcher Dr. Shareef Dabdoub has been awarded a grant (R03) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) to investigate the complex role of viruses in oral health and disease. The grant, totaling $311,000, will support two years of research.

The Department of Periodontics hosted a weekend of celebrations, recognizing the 2024 graduating class of Drs. Ronak Bhagat and William Burns.

The National Institutes of Health awarded three Iowa dental researchers, Hongli Sun, Shaoping Zhang, and Erliang Zeng, a $660,000 exploratory grant to investigate an innovative strategy for treating bone loss that tends to accompany periodontitis. This strategy uses tissue engineering strategies that can reduce bone loss and regenerate bone tissue.

Sivaraman Prakasam, associate professor and head of the Department of Periodontics, is investigating a particular group of proteins that discriminates between good and bad bacteria in a person’s gingiva (gum) and mouth to modulate the body’s immune response. His research could lead to new tools that can prevent or treat periodontitis.

Sivaraman Prakasam has joined the dental faculty at Iowa and been named chair of periodontics. With a strong department under Prakasam’s leadership, the Department of Periodontics will continue to excel in clinical care, teaching, and research.

Huojun Cao and Eric Van Otterloo are investigating the genetic underpinnings of tooth development. The long-term goal of their work is to better understand tooth development so that new regenerative treatments for teeth can be developed.

The Academy of Osseointegration awarded I-Ching (Izzie) Wang, clinical assistant professor of periodontics, and Anvita Maharishi, assistant professor of family dentistry, a $30,000 translational and clinical science research grant for their project, Correlation Between Peri-implant Mucosa Color and Tissue Dynamics: Phenotype and Health Recognition Using Dental Ultrasonography.