AWARDS AND ACTIVITIES

Dr. Neal Garrett and the Weintraub Center conducted a “by invitation only” symposium devoted to tissue engineering in Missillac, France last summer. The leading international figures in tissue engineering attended and conducted spirited discussions. The conference was sponsored by The Borchard Foundation with additional contributions from Conexao, G.C. and Straumann. A follow-up conference is being planned.

Dr. Takahiro Ogawa has been appointed Secretary and Treasurer of the IADR’s Prosthodontics Research Group.  In the next three years he will be organizing the symposia, lunch & learn sessions and other activities of the group.  He proposed a symposium entitled “Molecular and Nano-Design of Dental Implants” for the 2007 New Orleans Meeting.  He also established a new research competition for young researchers in the group entitled the “Pre-Prosthetic Regenerative Science Award.”

Dr. John Beumer received the Ackerman Award from the American Academy of Maxillofacial Prosthetics in recognition of his contribution to the art and science of Maxillofacial Prosthetics. Dr. Beumer also received The Jerome and Dorothy Schweitzer Research Award from the Greater New York Academy of Prosthodontics.

Dr. Eleni Roumanas and Dr. John Beumer were both appointed for five-year terms as Fulbright Senior Specialists, Their first assignment was at the University of Szeged in Hungary where they recently spent two weeks working with local surgeons and dentists, updating their colleagues regarding the newest methods in rehabilitation and maintenance of patients treated for head and neck cancer.

RESEARCH NEWS

In the area of research, Dr. Ichiro Nishimura and colleagues have been awarded an NIH grant, “Molecular Probing for the Mechanism of Neuropathic Pain.” Extremely difficult to treat, neuropathic pain is a devastating condition affecting 1.4% of the US population. To date, the team has engineered and tested a novel hene transfer system which utilizes a cationized gelatin/plasmid DNA (GC/DNA) nano-particle with promising results.  This prject is the fruit of multidisciplinary collaborations with Dr. Igor Spigelman, a neurophysiologist in the division of Oral Biology and Medicine, and Dr. Yasuhiko Tabata, a materials scientist from Kyoto University in Japan.

The UCLA Academic Senate has awarded Dr. Ichiro Nishimura and Dr. Neal Garrett a Faculty Research Grant entitled ‘The Role of SNPs in the wit3.0 Gene in the Process of Restoration and Maintenance of the Human Jawbone Following Tooth Extraction.” Tooth extraction is the most frequently performed surgical treatment in dentistry. After initial healing, continuous jawbone resorption persists in some patients for unidentified reasons resulting in the loss of alveolar bone. The goal of this project is to obtain the first genetic information from our patients who exhibit severe bone resorption. After obtaining IRB approval, Drs. Nishimura and Garrett enrolled the first group of study subjects and isolated chromosomal DNA samples. Their hope is to identify the genotype/haplotype of the fgfrlop2 gene, which may provide the basis for future gene diagnosis of post- extraction residual ridge resorption.

This year, the Weintraub Center hosted three graduate students from the Department of Bioengineering, UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science; Devang Thakor, Jake Wang and Audrey Lin have completed their dissertations and received their PhD degrees. Dr. Thakor has been awarded a prestigious Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Japanese Society for Promotion of Science. He moved to Kyoto, Japan to join Dr. Yasuhiko Tabata’s laboratory in the Institute of Frontier Medical Science, Kyoto University. Dr. Wang has been accepted to the NIH-funded postdoctoral research training program at the University of Connecticut. He will move to Farmington to join Dr. Ernst Reichenburger’s laboratory. Dr. Lin will join the Weintraub Center as a Postdoctoral Fellow and further explore molecular trafficking mechanism in periphery neurons.

Dr. Takahiro Ogawa has continued his work toward making dental implant surfaces more bioreactive. He has filed eight provisional patents and two international patents based on his new technologies. With his new physicochemically modified surface, virtually 100% of the implant surface is covered with bone after a suitable i5 of healing as compared to the 30-60% achieved by previous surfaces. Another nanotechnology-based surface technology he has developed helps establish implant anchorage in bone four times faster than the currently used implant surfaces. His studies on understanding the molecular mechanism of bone-implant integration and the development of new implant surfaces are currently supported by an NIH grant. Dr. Ogawa also developed a detoxified and osteoconductive bone cement for use with orthopedic implants. Several companies have expressed a strong interest in licensing this technology.

Dr. Ogawa hosted six visiting postdoctoral scholars during 2005-2006. Under his mentorship, Dr. Frank Butz was awarded the prestigious IADR Frechette Prosthodontics Research Award and the Academy of Osseointegration Research Award. Dr. Hideki Aita and Dr. Wael Att were finalists for the IADR Arthur Frechette Award. Dr. Non Kojima was selected as an IADR Implant Research Award finalist. Dr. Hideki Aita was awarded the second place research award by the Japan Prosthodontics Society.

Dr. Anahid Jewett of the Weintraub Center has discovered a chemoprotective agent that eliminates the toxic side effect associated with the use of dental composite resins. Provisional patents have been issued and several companies have ex pressed interest in licensing this new technology. She continues her work studying the molecular mechanism associated with the development of oral cancers.

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