Dr. Sukirth Ganesan, assistant professor in periodontics, and a team of researchers in the Carver College of Medicine, including Eric Taylor (Physiology), Ashutosh Mangalam and Kevin Legge (Pathology), 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. Especially, with the recent publications highlighting an important role of saliva in transmission in ARS-nCoV2 infections, the grant will help in understanding the pathogenesis of SARS-nCoV2. The multidisciplinary team draws expertise in microbiome, oral biology, metabolomics, viral genomics, immunology, and infectious diseases with Drs. Ganesan, Mangalam, and Taylor as Co-Principal investigators, Dr. Legge as co-investigator, and Drs. Val Sheffield (Molecular Genetics) and Katherine Imborek (Influenza-like-Illness clinics) as consultants. Total funding for this award is $74,900 and the one-year project starts from June 1, 2021.

In the Harry Potter universe, Harry Potter regrew a bone simply by drinking a magic potion. Researchers at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry are working to make this fantasy a reality—not with magic but with novel tissue engineering strategies and cutting-edge science.

Dr. Hongli Sun, associate professor in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and the Iowa Institute for Oral Health Research, is one of several faculty members at the college leading the charge to develop novel bone regeneration strategies.

Typically, when bones or joints are seriously damaged, such as in multiple or complex fractures or in bones that are seriously compromised by age, disease, infection, or injury, the most common treatment is a bone-graft using one’s own bone material. A less invasive and potentially more effective approach is to harness a body’s own bodily repair processes to quickly and efficiently repair and regenerate bone.

Dr. Sun’s team is researching more effective ways to use the body’s own internal repair processes by tailoring a specific bone regeneration strategy to the specific cause(s) of bone damage. There are two major areas where his team is making great strides.

In the first area, emerging research uses deferoxamine, a drug that treats iron poisoning, to activate the hypoxia-induced factor-1α, which in turn promotes angiogenesis and bone regeneration. The two biggest obstacles to this line of research has been safety concerns and complicating factors, such as chronic inflammation, which are common among older individuals.

Dr. Sun’s team is addressing both obstacles. Dr. Sun’s team uses a small molecule, phenamil, to reduce inflammation and promote endogenous bone regeneration. To address safety concerns, the research team has engineered a novel nanomaterial scaffold that mimics the bone collagen structure and delivers deferoxamine and phenamil locally and controllably.

“The drug themselves are not new and people have been using them, but we are developing a new method for controlled release of the drugs that can be delivered at a specific location,” Dr. Sun explained.

These two innovations could pave the way for treatments to rejuvenate and repair significant bone damage, even for older adults. Dr. Sun and his team were recently awarded a five-year National Institutes of Health grant totaling over $1.7 million to support this research project

In a second area, Dr. Sun and his team are developing a specific bone regeneration strategy tailored to the specific needs associated with periodontitis-induced bone and tooth loss. In particular, the strategy treats the bacteria that causes periodontitis while continuously and effectively directing the body’s own repair processes to the site of the damage.

Although Dr. Sun has only been at the College of Dentistry since 2018, he has had remarkable success in developing his own research and securing grant funding for his projects.

From developmental biologists, like Dr. Brad Amendt, to research design and biostatistical support from Dr. Xian Jin Xie, to mechanics support from the College of Engineering, to clinical expertise from oral surgeons and periodontists, Dr. Sun has found a wide-range of collaborators that ultimately makes his work better.

“For any major research like this, we really need a well-rounded team, with a lot of different experts from different areas,” Sun explained, “and I came to Iowa because I knew I would get strong support that from other researchers, support staff, and the administration,” he added.

With researchers like Dr. Sun and his team on the case, it’s only a matter of time before we are making the fantasy of regrowing bone tissue a reality.

For almost a decade, Dr. Julie Holloway has been the head of the Department of Prosthodontics at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry. But service to her department only tells part of the story. Over her 28-year career in academic dentistry, Dr. Julie Holloway has been a model of excellence in research and in educating and mentoring advanced prosthodontics students, and she has served as a key leader in her department at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry, and in the prosthodontics profession more generally.

As a researcher, she has:

• Been a co-investigator in large research grants, including two NIH-funded R01s;
• Published 54 journal articles, 27 of them during her 10 years at Iowa;
• Authored 3 book chapters;
• Presented numerous abstracts at local, regional, national, or international meetings and conferences.

As an educator and mentor, she has:

• Taught extensively at both the predoctoral and postdoctoral level;
• Published numerous articles on dental education;
• Directed the program in advanced education for prosthodontics residents at both Iowa and Ohio State for well over a decade;
• Served as thesis advisor for five Master’s students in prosthodontics (3 at Iowa);
• Served as a thesis committee member for 28 other Master’s students in prosthodontics (11 at Iowa);
• Received the Garver-Staffanou Prosthodontic Program Director's Award for Excellence from the American Academy of Fixed Prosthodontics in 2018 (shown below on the right).

Dr. Terry Lindquist, associate professor in prosthodontics, spoke glowingly of Dr. Holloway’s contributions as an educator and mentor.

Lindquist said, “She instituted changed the Prosthodontic curriculum by creating modules with the pre-clinical courses which benefitted both students and the faculty.”

“She understood the benefits and found ways of adding or doing what she could to support digital dentistry in the department for the graduate program and the faculty,” Lindquist added.  

As a leader in the prosthodontics profession, she has served as:

• President of the American Academy of Fixed Prosthodontics (shown to the left); 
• President of the Carl O. Boucher Prosthodontic Conference;
• Treasurer of the American College of Prosthodontics;
• Committee member for the Prosthodontics Review Committee for the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA)
• Board member on the Board of Directors for the International Association for Dental Research Prosthodontics Group

These lists speak for themselves, but her personal impact at the College of Dentistry and the Department of Prosthodontics go well beyond these accomplishments as her students and colleagues can attest.

When Dr. Holloway came to Iowa in 2011, she started the annual tradition of serving homeless patients or veterans in need for National Prosthodontics Awareness Week. The Department of Prosthodontics has also provided care each year at the Iowa Mission of Mercy.

Dr. Lindquist expressed her appreciation for Holloway’s support and her consistent acknowledgment of what Lindquist and other faculty members contribution to the Department of Prosthodontics.

Dr. Salahaldeen Abuhammoud wrote his Master’s thesis under Dr. Holloway’s direction and is now an assistant professor in the Department of Prosthodontics.

“Dr. Holloway is one of those rare individuals that combined excellence as a clinician, educator, mentor, and research, and her demand for perfection inspired me to be a better prosthodontist” Abuhammoud said. “That is why she is such a national and inspirational leader in our profession,” he added.

Dr. Michelle Burson is one of Dr. Holloway’s current graduate students in the Advanced Prosthodontics residency.

“Dr. Holloway is an example of the kind of prosthodontist that I want to be,” Burson said. “When you have a problem, she has an answer or does what she can to help you solve it,” she added.

“She encouraged me to be a prosthodontist, pushes me to be my best, and I use the techniques that she has taught me every single day,” she said.

For Burson, however, what stands out is how much Holloway cares about her students and patients.

These accounts are why Dr. Lindquist said, “You could see devotion to teaching the graduate students… in the laboratory or clinic, as she patiently reviewed with them the fundamentals and advanced aspects of prosthodontics.”

As Dr. Holloway moves to France after her retirement on May 3, she wishes everyone a fond “Adieu”.

For the past decade, Iowa has had the honor and privilege of having Dr. Isabelle Denry, one of the world’s foremost experts in dental ceramics, on our faculty. After several years in a private dental practice in France and completing a master’s degree in dental biomaterials, Denry decided to begin an academic career. In 1987, she became an assistant professor in the Department of Biomaterials and Biophysics at the University of Paris School of Dentistry, and she went off to earn her PhD in Odontological Sciences from the University of Paris School of Chemistry in 1989. She came to the United States as a research associate in the operative dentistry department at UCLA in 1990, and later went on to establish her own career as an independent researcher at the Ohio State University beginning in 1991 and full professor in 2006. After 20 years at Ohio State, Denry brought her innovative research and expertise to Iowa as a professor in prosthodontics and as a researcher in the Iowa Institute for Oral Health Research, where she has served since 2011.

After a remarkable and fruitful 34-year academic career, Denry will be retiring from Iowa on May 3, 2021. Over her career, she has:

• Received an IADR Distinguished Scientist Award recognizing excellence in the field of dental materials (2019);
• Received the IADR Innovation in Oral Care Award (2020);
• Secured large research grants, including two NIH-funded R01 and three R21 awards;
• Published 59 journal articles, 15 of them during her 10 years at Iowa;
• Co-authored a two-part textbook, and wrote 7 book chapters;
• Obtained 4 US patents;
• Presented numerous abstracts at local, regional, national, or international meetings and conferences

With almost 5,000 citations over her career, including one first-author publication with over 2,000 citations, Denry has become one of the world’s greatest authorities in the development, use, and understanding of the structure and clinical uses of ceramics in dentistry.

And her recent work has taken her well beyond a purely dental context with her invention of a novel and effective blood-clotting agent, for which Denry and the University of Iowa just filed an International patent application.

Denry attributes her success as a researcher to her exploratory and entrepreneurial methodology.

She’s always looking for new angles and possibilities, potential applications of novel materials, as well as innovative experimental approaches.

“I like to think outside the box and I am excited to try high risk/high reward experiments. Often the results are inconclusive; but scientists need to explore new possibilities—I was trained to be rigorous but audacious at the University of Paris and that’s really what science is about,” Dr. Denry said.

Denry also lives out that approach with her students, according to Kan Wongkamhaeng, a PhD student in oral science. With Denry’s high risk/high reward experiments, “Experiments do not always go how we wanted,” he explained. “And Dr. Denry would encourage me by explaining that she expects that many experiments will not work, and she would say, ‘That is the meaning of word, ‘research.’”

Dean David Johnsen expressed his high regard for Denry saying, “Isabelle Denry has been an inspiration as a scientist who impacts the world of dental materials, as a mentor who makes a difference in the lives and careers of many, and as a role model of integrity and dedication at the College of Dentistry.”

Associate Dean for Research Jin Xie sees these same qualities in Denry—excellence as a researcher, colleague, and mentor.

He added, “During this past year, I saw her wisdom, insight, and expertise on full display as she served on the college’s research proposal advisory panel to review grant proposals for the 2020 seed grant initiative. Her comments and advice were valuable and important, especially for our junior faculty members, and it has made a difference for our entire college.”

For the past decade, Denry has been an invaluable member of the College of Dentistry. As she moves back to France in the coming months, her impact here at Iowa will continue to be felt. The image on the right shows Dr. Denry and Dr. Julie Holloway after France won the World Cup in 2018.    

On April 26, the College of Dentistry conducted an investiture ceremony for Dr. Gustavo Avila Ortiz, the chair of the Department of Periodontics, as the inaugural Philip Lainson Professor of Periodontics. An endowed faculty position is the highest honor the university can confer on a faculty member, and this particular endowed position is due to the extensive efforts of alumni and friends who wanted both to honor Professor Phil Lainson, the longtime chair of the Department of Periodontics, and to support advances in the field of periodontics. The image to the right shows 7 of the College of Dentistry's 13 endowed professors.

After an extensive and rigorous nomination and review process Professor Avila Ortiz was named to this endowed professorship. Dr. Avila Ortiz has excelled as a leader, clinical scholar, teacher, mentor at predoctoral and advanced levels, international collaborator, and trend setter in the national councils where policy and standards for patient care are set.  As DEO has shown stellar talents as a team builder.   

In addition to a generous commitment to clinical and didactic teaching at predoctoral and advanced levels, Professor Avila Ortiz has successfully mentored more than 30 individual predoctoral and postdoctoral students over the past decade.

As a clinical scholar and trend setter, he has participated in all aspects of scholarly development, manuscript preparation and submission, which has resulted in more than 100 peer reviewed publications, more than 100 presentations in scientific events and CE programs, and several national and international awards and recognitions. He also has an active and sought-after private practice. 

He received his DDS Degree in 2003 from the University of Granada (UGR), School of Dentistry (Spain) and a PhD Degree, Department of Stomatology from UGR in 2006.  In 2009, he received his MS Degree in Periodontics from the University of Michigan, School of Dentistry.  From 2009 to 2011 he served as Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, University of Michigan, School of Dentistry.  In 2011 he joined the University of Iowa, College of Dentistry as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Periodontics, becoming Professor in 2018.  In 2017 he became Department Executive Officer in the Department of Periodontics, University of Iowa College of Dentistry.  He has been an energetic team builder, recruiting an impressive group of teachers and scholars, including several who have already secured external funding.  His international network in Periodontology circles has brought many benefits to the team.   

Professor Avila Ortiz has an impressive list of national and international awards and invited presentations including the AAP (American Academy of Periodontology) Outstanding Periodontal Educator Award in 2013, 1st Prize in the category of Clinical Research at the Academy of Osseointegration Meeting, in San Diego in 2016, 1st Prize, Clinical Research category at the Dentsply Implants World Summit in San Diego in 2017, Honorary Alumnus – University of Granada School of Dentistry (Spain) in 2018, 1st Prize at the International Osteology Symposium – Basic Science Category in 2019 (presented by Dr. Miguel Romero- Bustillos).  He was a Member of the Editorial Board of Journal of Dental Research from 2014 to 2021.  Currently, he is an Associate Editor, Journal of Periodontology starting in 2020, and Co-Editor, Clinical Advances in Periodontics starting in 2020.  He has over a dozen privately supported clinical trials with support of over $800K.  Professor Avila Ortiz has over 90 peer reviewed papers mostly on clinical research, clinical topics, and patient policy, and 10 book chapters.  Professor Avila Ortiz has given over 100 lectures nationally or internationally.  Topics have included alveolar ridge preservation and extraction site management for implant placement.

Upon receiving this honor, Dr. Avila Ortiz said:

“Not even in my most adventurous dreams, first as a dental student and later when I started a career in academics, could I have imagined that I would be honored with such a recognition. I would like to thank the University of Iowa and the College of Dentistry for granting me this honor. I am truly humbled. My thoughts go to all the people that have supported (and put up with) me over the years: my family, friends, colleagues and mentors. Thanks also to all the members of the Department of Periodontics for being such a great and cohesive team, especially in the hardest of circumstances. I would also like to acknowledge all the donors that have made this Professorship possible—for their tremendous generosity and commitment to the advancement of the department. And finally, I would like to express a special appreciation for Dr. Phillip A. Lainson, after whom this Professorship is named. I did not have the privilege of working with Phil, but I have had the tremendous pleasure of meeting him several times since I joined the University of Iowa, and I have heard from other people what an extraordinary leader he was during his tenure in our College. Dr. Lainson continues to be a source of inspiration for new generations of periodontists and I cannot be prouder to have my name connected to his and his legacy.”

Dr. Avila Ortiz's investiture as the Philip Lainson Professor of Periodontics was held on April 26 with people attending virtually via Zoom and in person. This investiture brings the total number of endowed faculty members at the College of Dentistry to 13.

Story updated with investitutre ceremony images and information.

Professor Xian Jin Xie was announced as the next Centennial Research Professor. This professorship recognizes Dr. Xie’s international reputation in research, the impact of his current research for its own sake and for the advancement of the college’s strategic mission in research. Dr. Xie is currently Associate Dean for Research and Director of the Division of Biostatistics and Computational Biology for the University of Iowa College of Dentistry. He also holds a joint appointment in the University of Iowa College of Public Health, and has collaborated with over 100 clinical, translational, and basic science principal investigators, leading the quantitative biomedical research effort on 52 peer-reviewed grants and 32 clinical trials including two NIH Cancer Center Support Grants, SPORE grants (P50) in lung and renal cancer, various single-PI NIH grants, as well as grants from NASA, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT), the American Cancer Society, and the US Department of Defense. These awards have provided over $90 million of research funding, and the resulting collaborations have led to 138 articles published in peer-reviewed journals with more than 7000 citations to date.

Dean David Johnsen said of Dr. Xie, "While the numbers are impressive, even more impressive is what a team player Professor Xie is!  He has collaborated with faculty from several colleges on campus as well as graduate and predoctoral students." 

Since Professor Xie assumed the role of associate dean, the college has continued improving its research trajectory with record levels of NIH funding and applications, and securing P3 funds to support an NIH P50 application on oral cancer.  Dr. Xie also initiated a seed grant program with the goal fund innovative projects from early-career investigators or established investigators who are developing a new line of research. The goal of these grants is to encourage research and generate data that will enable the awardees to be competitive for peer-reviewed national funding agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health.

Regarding this professorship, Dr. Xian said, "It is a great honor for me to be nominated for the College of Dentistry’s Centennial Professorship."

He added, "My vision for this professorship is to be a facilitator of others’ scholarship efforts, a discussion leader, and a champion for collaborative research success through serving, collaborating, and empowering others to achieve excellence to make the College of Dentistry a global leader in dental research!"   

Dr. Xie will continue the legacy of excellence exemplified by those who have held this professorship.  

As an expert in the genetics of embryonic development, Dr. Eric Van Otterloo has opened a new dimension for understanding craniofacial development, genetics, and bone formation.

Van Otterloo’s most recent line of research began when he identified, in the mouse genome, a mutation in the gene Memo1. The mutation, which removed the Memo1 gene, affected craniofacial bone development. Up until that point, Memo1 was primarily associated with breast cancer. In this context, Memo1 was responsible for cell migration, and thus breast cancer metastasis, but Van Otterloo’s discovery opened a new area of inquiry for this gene.

During embryonic development, the cartilage and bone in the head and the face develops out of a particular kind of cells called the neural crest. Along with the cranial bones and cartilage, neural crest cells contribute to several tissues important for life. Van Otterloo’s discovery, using mice with mutations to the gene Memo1, revealed the MEMO1 protein has a unique role in regulating neural crest derived craniofacial bone.

He and his team began investigating the precise mechanism behind this developmental process. First, they found that deleting Memo1 from the neural crest cells alone resulted in some of the same defects they had observed when Memo1 was removed from the entire mouse embryo. This finding suggested that Memo1 played a role directly within the neural crest cells to regulate craniofacial bone mineralization, rather than having an indirect impact on these cells.

Like the neural crest, the ectoderm also contributes to ameloblasts, the cells that deposit enamel on the outer surface of the teeth. Would MEMO1 also play a role in the mineralization process of these cells? To address this question, the Van Otterloo lab deleted Memo1 specifically from the ameloblasts. They found that deleting Memo1 from these cells resulted in severely compromised tooth enamel, again, suggesting Memo1 was somehow involved in mineralization of another tissue.

These experimental processes have helped Van Otterloo and his team investigate the precise mechanism by which Memo1 is regulating mineralization of distinct tissue types during craniofacial development. Current work in the Van Otterloo lab includes trying to determine exactly how Memo1 is controlling both of these mineralization events, and whether there are any shared feature in these mechanisms.

“Memo1 is still a little bit elusive. In breast cancer, it signals and governs cell migration, and for bone development, it regulates bone mineralization,” Van Otterloo said.

“Being able to understand the mechanism by which Memo1 operates could allow us to enhance bone formation or block bone formation to address developmental defects,” he added.

Van Otterloo is continuing this work with a recent, and he was recently awarded a three-year $700K grant for a project investigation the interactions between Memo1 and Runx2.

Runx2 is a transcription factor for activating genes and a master regulator for bone development. In this research project, Van Otterloo is exploring the precise relationship between Memo1 and Runx2.

“We know that Runx2 is crucial for bone development, but we don’t know whether or how it is related to Memo1,” Van Otterloo explained. “We will determine how central Runx2 is to the expression of Memo1 in gene regulatory networks in bone and enamel development,” Van Otterloo added.

Building on Memo1’s role in communicating and directing other cells, it may be the case that Memo1 plays a coordinating role setting up the cytoskeletal system, which plays an important role in the formation of bone and teeth.

This original research fits well at Iowa.

“Iowa has extensive research on cranial facial anomalies and bone regeneration harnessing genetic research,” Van Otterloo said.

In particular, Van Otterloo said that Memo1 could be a good candidate for the team of researchers at Iowa looking into specific therapeutics regarding bone regeneration, and Memo1 could be used to improve specific bone regeneration strategies. Likewise, researchers at Iowa who specialize in orofacial clefting and human genetics could explore the role of Memo1 in various patient cohorts with orofacial clefting.

These studies into the genetics of embryonic bone formation are not only expanding scientific knowledge in the area, but they are also laying the basic science groundwork necessary to move from the bench to the dental chair.

On Thursday, the University of Iowa announced that the first $7.5 million of the investment revenue generated from the public-private partnership (P3) for its utility system would include a $600K+ award for the College of Dentistry. With this support, an interdisciplinary team with over 40-people, including Iowa faculty from the Colleges of Dentistry, Medicine, Pharmacy, and Engineering, will develop the preliminary data and program structure to apply and be competitive for an $11 million grant from the NCI/NIDCR to establish a P50 Specialized Program of Research Excellence in oral cancer. This specialized research program in oral cancer will be the first of its kind in the nation.

Each year, approximately 53,000 people are diagnosed with some form of oral cancer and almost 10,000 die. Early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of oral cancer significantly enhance survival rates and reduce morbidity.

These P3 funds will significantly improve the chances that this interdisciplinary team will be able to secure P50 funds for each of the proposed research projects, and these projects would in turn help fill gaps in knowledge and in clinical translation necessary to substantially improve early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of oral cancer.

More specifically, the P3 funds will enable the team to develop the infrastructure and administrative units for supporting each of the research projects, and it will allow the project teams to generate preliminary data.  

In their award letter, Provost Kevin Kregel and Vice President of Research Martin Scholtz said of the project, "Establishing the nation’s first NCI/NIDCR P50 in Oral Cancer will bring national and international distinction to the University of Iowa. We look forward to seeing the progress towards establishing the support activities necessary to be competitive in the P50 grant submission."

The six projects are as follows:

Project 1: The Oral Microbiome in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC)

Co-PIs: Jeffrey Banas, PhD; David Drake, PhD; Sukirth Ganesan, BDS, PhD; Co-Is: Emily Lanzel, DDS; John Hellstein, DDS; Xian Jin Xie, PhD; Eric Taylor, PhD; Liu Hong, MD, PhD; Consultant: Kim Brogden, PhD

Project 2: Dissecting the PRMT5 regulatory pathway in oral epithelium differentiation

Co-PIs: Robert Cornell, PhD; Eric Van Otterloo, PhD; Ronald Weigel, MD, PhD; Co-Is: John Hellstein, DDS; Xian Jin Xie, PhD

Project 3: Tissue-Engineered Approaches for Oral Cancer Reconstructive Surgery

Co-PIs: Liu Hong, MD, PhD; Hongli Sun, PhD; Co-Is: Nitin Pagedar, MD; Brad Amendt, PhD; Marisa Buchakjian, MD, PhD; Xuan Song, PhD

Project 4: In situ Immunization with nanoparticles for treating oral squamous cell carcinoma

Co-PIs: Ali Salem, PhD; George Weiner, MD; Co-Is: Douglas Laux, MD; Andrean Simons-Burnett, PhD; Kyungsup Shin, DMD, PhD; Kim Brogden, PhD; Xian Jin Xie, PhD

Project 5: Discovering Genetic Susceptibility to Oral Cancer

Co-PIs: Xian Jin Xie, PhD; Erliang Zeng, PhD; Co-Is: Robert Cornell, PhD; Azeez Butali, DDS, PhD; Ronald Weigel, MD, PhD; Benjamin Darbro, MD, PhD

Project 6: NEK2 in Oral Cancer Biology and Therapy

Co-PIs: Frank Zhan, MD, DDS, PhD; Marisa Buchakjian, MD, PhD; Emily Lanzel, DDS; Co-Is: Carryn Anderson, MD; Veeratrishul Allareddy, BDS

The vaccine rollout at the University of Iowa initially began by prioritizing first-line health care providers, and it has recently expanded to include health care providers more generally, including College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics faculty, staff, and students who are directly involved in patient care. As COVID-19 cases and deaths in the United States continue to rise, these vaccinations point toward a light at the end of this journey.

The first faculty and staff members at the College of Dentistry received their vaccinations through University Employee Health Clinic at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics last week, and dental students began receiving their vaccinations from University of Iowa Student Health this week. Many adjunct faculty members are receiving vaccinations from local Departments of Health in their home, or surrounding counties.

These vaccinations are the first in a series of two vaccinations. After the second vaccination, the Moderna vaccination is 94.1% effective at preventing laboratory confirmed cases of COVID-19 and the Pfizer vaccination is 95% effective at preventing them.

Since more data are needed to determine how effective these vaccinations are at preventing transmission of COVID-19, the CDC has recommended that vaccinated individuals continue to social distance and wear personal protection equipment (including masks). As such, the College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics is maintaining current risk mitigation protocols, including social distancing, PPE requirements, and other risk mitigation efforts, even after all faculty, staff, and students in the building has been given both vaccine doses.

At this time, the college does not know when faculty, residents, and staff members who are not involved in patient care will be offered vaccinations.

Dr. Mike Kanellis, associate dean of clinics, has been consistently sending out email updates on the latest vaccination information for College of Dentistry faculty, staff, and students, and as more information becomes available, he will continue to communicate it to the college.

Photos provided by Faculty/Staff/Students are below.

 Third-year dental students, Emma Miller, Brady Ellis, and Maddie Kasparek.

 First-year dental students Sarmad Hussein, Luke Hovey, and Grant Kincaid

The American Association of Orthodontics awarded Dr. Aline Petrin, associate research scientist in the Iowa Institute for Oral Health Research, the 2021 Milo Hellman Research Award. This award will be presented during the virtual AAO Excellence in Orthodontics Awards Luncheon at Annual Session.

Dr. Thomas Southard, DEO in the Department of Orthodontics, expressed his congratulations and said of Dr. Petrin receiving the award, “This is the top orthodontic research prize in the world!”

Dr. Petrin was chosen for this prestigious award based on her research project, "Epigenome-wide analysis of DNA methylation in monozygotic twins discordant for orofacial clefts." This project is part of her 5-year career-development K01 NIH grant and draws on a unique and powerful approach to genetic research that uses discordant twins to study key epigenetics factors, which play a causal role in orofacial clefts

"It is an honor to be the recipient of the Milo Hellman Award. This achievement would not have been possible without the support that I receive. I extend my sincere thanks to my mentors, Dr. Moreno, Dr. Murray and Dr. Marazita, to the Department of Orthodontics, to our Division of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, and the College of Dentistry leadership."