The National Institutes of Health awarded Shaoping Zhang, assistant professor of periodontics, and his team a 5-year, $1.95 million R01 grant to assess and understand the role of type I interferon (IFN-I) in periodontal disease. This major research project is part of Iowa Dentistry’s efforts to advance research and discovery—producing novel translational research that can treat those who suffer from periodontitis.

The 2022 American Academy of Periodontology (AAP) held its 108th Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona from October 27 to October 30. The University of Iowa Department of Periodontics had excellent participation with numerous invited speakers and recognitions.

The Osteology Foundation awarded I-Ching Wang, associate professor of periodontics, an almost $30K Young Researcher Grant for her project, Ultrasound-based Imaging to Detect Early Changes of Hard and Soft tissue Around Immediately Placed Implants With or Without Soft Tissue Augmentation.

Emilio Couso-Queiruga, a resident in periodontics, received the 2022 Mentor of the Year Award by students in the University of Iowa Dental Student Research Group.

Second-year dental students Frank Boksa and Mary Young have been awarded NIH Summer Dental Student Research Awards to conduct research at the National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research in Maryland.

Sukirth Ganesan and his team are using a multi -omics approach to study the relationship between periodontal disease and metabolic syndrome. The National Institutes of Health awarded them a R03 grant for over $300,000 for this project. The project will determine the precise relationship between these conditions, which could help prevent disease or provide early indicators of disease and possible avenues for treatment at an early stage of the condition.

Dr. Sukirth Ganesan, assistant professor in periodontics, and a team of researchers in the Carver College of Medicine were awarded a Carver Trust COVID-19 Pilot Collaborative Award. The grant, Unraveling the role of saliva in COVID- 19 pathogenesis using a comprehensive multi-omics approach, will involve a multi-arm, cross-sectional, case-control study with an integrated -omics approach to determine the microbial, metabolic, functional, and immune alterations in the saliva of COVID-19 patients.

As an expert in the genetics of embryonic development and an assistant professor in the Department of Periodontics, Eric Van Otterloo, has opened a new dimension for understanding craniofacial development, genetics, and bone formation as he and his team have explored a peculiar gene, Memo1.