Research

This past year has brought many successes and reasons to celebrate the mission-oriented work we engage in at the School of Dentistry every day.

The School of Dentistry hosted the second Dental MRI Symposium on Thursday and Friday, November 2 and 3, 2023.

With the autumn season change and the beauty of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, attendees enjoyed a day to meet across disciplines and reflect on best practices for mentorship of the next generation of School of Dentistry researchers. 

Isha Mutreja, PhD, MSc, assistant professor of biomaterials, was named a member of the 2023-2024 cohort of American Association for Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Research MIND the Future program.

The inaugural cohort of MnCORE learners are making an impact on research projects throughout Moos Tower.

Louis Mansky, PhD, professor of basic sciences and director of the Institute for Molecular Virology, received an NIH R21 grant from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research for his work on cryo-CLEM imaging of HTLV-1, along with Wei Zhang, PhD, research professor of basic sciences, and Joachim Mueller, professor of physics. 

Researchers and learners at the School of Dentistry gathered to exchange ideas and learn from one another at a research exchange event that brought together various areas of expertise. 

The grant seeks to “reduce the need for lengthy and costly clinical studies, thus reducing the developmental costs and accelerating the translation of dental restorative materials from the benchtop to the chairside,” Fok explained.

Specifically, Wang plans to examine Epstein-Barr Virus nuclear antigen leader protein, or EBNALP, “an EBV-encoded gene essential for EBV to transform naive B cells into proliferating lymphoblastoid cell lines.”

Rosemary Skriver, BDSH ’22, MDT ’23, received the American Dental Hygienists Association’s 2023 Sigma Phi Alpha Undergraduate Journalism Award for her research on providers’ knowledge and attitudes toward patients with Alzheimer’s Disease. Skriver is the first dental therapy student to receive a national award for her writing.