Schulich Students presented at AADR/CADR Annual Meeting

Karla Crosara, Shawna Kim and Georgia Nikoloudaki presented their research posters at the Annual General Meeting of the CADR (Canadian Association for Dental Research), held in conjunction with the annual AADR meeting, in Fort Lauderdale in March.

Congratulations to Georgia Nikoloudaki, DDS (PhD candidate), supervised by Dr. Douglas Hamilton, who had earlier competed for and won a CADR-NCOHR Student Research (Travel) Award to attend and present at this annual meeting.  This award was sponsored by the Canadian Association for Dental Research (CADR) and the Network for Canadian Oral Health Research (NCOHR).

Georgia remarked, ‘The award from CADR/ΝCHOR gave me the opportunity to attend the annual meeting this year and present my research entitled ‘Characterization of the Effect of Periostin Deletion on Palatal Wound Healing’. It was great to see our lab’s work recognized; the meeting was an ideal environment to share our research and receive feedback and ideas from experts in the field. We were exposed to a wide range of dental research topics and met with prominent researchers in the field, as well as numerous North American dental students. The cutting-edge research, networking and feedback are an invaluable experience, opening new horizons for personal development and professional opportunities’.

Shawna Kim, PhD (DDS 2019 candidate), also supervised by Dr. Douglas Hamilton, presented two posters: ‘Periostin modulates collagen and fibronectin synthesis during gingival healing’ (based on her research from Schulich Dentistry's Summer Research Program), and ‘Fibrotic phenotype of phenytoin-induced gingival enlargement’.  Shawna remarked, “Attending this conference was such a valuable experience where we could network and share our experience with fellow researchers and clinicians.  We also experienced experts sharing their professional insights on different areas of dental research”.

Karla Crosara, DDS (PhD Candidate), supervised by Dr. Walter Siqueira, presented her research work entitled ‘Orthodontic Bracket Pellicle Proteome Modulation after Exposure to Fluoride’. This pioneer work identified, for the first time, variations to the elemental surface composition of metallic and ceramic orthodontic brackets due to exposure to fluoride solution, and described consequent qualitative changes to the bracket protein pellicle formed on fluoride-treated brackets compared to distilled water treatment.