For love of research

Dr. Xiaofang Wang, assistant professor in biomedical sciences Media Resources/Steven Doll

Bench time is the best time for this Harold M. Frost Young Investigator Award winner

It hasn’t been a bad year for Dr. Xiaofang Wang.

For starters, this postdoctoral research associate was promoted to assistant professor in fall 2012. A member of a biomedical sciences research team that has generated significant findings, Wang will receive the prestigious Harold M. Frost Young Investigator Award from the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research later this summer. Then there is the nomination from the Journal of Endodontics to serve as a member of its Scientific Advisory Board. It all might have something to do with Wang’s role studying and developing the FAM20C molecule in Dr. Chunlin Qin’s $1.825 million research project, funded by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.

All of the recognition would be exciting for any young investigator. But for this dentist turned science buff, the most exhilarating part is the research itself. He recalls with fondness the 10-hour days spent in the lab throughout 2011 poring over data and findings.

“The truly exciting part is when you’ve sat there for a long time, and suddenly you get some breaks,” says Wang. “Science is not for everybody; you’ve got to be very careful and endure hard work and failures for days, months or even years. The happiness of the reward is usually transient compared with the long-term endurance.”

Searching for answers

Wang’s tendency to ask questions may be a reason he will soon receive one of the top honors for young bone and mineral researchers in the U.S. It started in 1995, when Wang received his dental degree in China. It didn’t take long for his quest for answers to begin.

“After two years of practicing dentistry, I realized that my background could not answer many scientific questions observed in the clinic and could not satisfy my desire for academic acknowledgment,” says Wang.

So back to school he went. Wang earned his master’s and a doctorate in oral biology from the Fourth Military Medical University in Xi’an, China, and spent two years as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Ohio State University College of Dentistry lab of Dr. Yiping Chen, focusing on tooth and palate development.

Following a new direction at TAMBCD

When Chen disclosed plans to move his lab from Ohio to New Orleans, the timing was right for Wang to make a change.

“I heard that Dr. Qin needed someone to do a new project that was pretty challenging,” says Wang. “So here I came.”

When Wang first arrived at Texas A&M University Baylor College of Dentistry in 2008 as a postdoctoral research associate, FAM20C was considered a novel molecule, studied only to a limited extent.

Since then, the team’s findings have garnered widespread interest because they show FAM20C’s critical role with all four types of mineralized tissues in mammals: bone; enamel (the outer layer of tooth crown); dentin (the bulky tissue shaping the contour of a tooth); and cementum (outer layer of tooth root).

Come August 4-7 during the Sun Valley Workshop on Musculoskeletal Biology in Idaho, Wang will present the findings and receive his award, but it’s safe to say his focus remains on one thing: going deeper with research.

“When the molecular mechanism is fully addressed,” Wang says, “I hope we can translate the results to new treatment to cure diseases with abnormal mineralization.”