• Dr. Shuxian Lin, PhD student in Dr. Jian (Jerry) Feng's lab in Biomedical Sciences, was selected to receive a 2012 American Society for Bone and Mineral Reearch (ASBMR) Young Investigator Award for her abstract presentation, "A Key Pathological Role for the Wnt/beta-catenin Signaling Pathway in Hypophosphatemic Rickets/Osteomalacia".  She received a $1000 honorarium and a plaque commemorating the award, which was presented to her on October 14, 2012, during a reception at the annual ASBMR meeting.
• Dr. Phillip Kramer, Associate Professor, is the Principal Investigator of an NIH R01 grant that was recently awarded $1 million in direct costs over the next four years.  The title of the project is "Estrogen and TMJ Pain".  Co-Principal Investigators are Dr. Larry Bellinger and Dr. Rena D'Souza.
• Dr. Robert Hinton, Regents Professor, was an invited speaker at the 38th annual meeting of the ADEE, the European counterpart of ADEA (American Association of Dental Education), held in Lyon, France, from August 29 to September 1, 2012.  His talk was entitled "Evidence-based Practice at Baylor College of Dentistry: the Road Traveled and the Road Ahead."
• Dr. Jian (Jerry) Feng, Professor, served as co-chairman of the International Symposium on Tooth Development held at the West China School of Stomatology, Chendu, China, on July 10-11, 2012.  The goal of the symposium was to highlight cutting-edge advances in all aspects of tooth development, including research in dentin, enamel and cementum, and to promote all levels of modern biomedical research - from basic, translational to clinical research.  In addition to chairing the symposium, Dr. Feng gave two session presentations.

R25 Grant Produces Important Results

The application and subsequent funding of CUSPID: Baylor’s Oral Health Research Education Grant (NIH/NIDCR R25 grant) was a gamble.  The broad purpose of CUSPID (which stands for “Clinicians Using Science Produce Inspired Dentists”) was to provide the dental students at Baylor College of Dentistry with instruction in critical thinking and life-long learning.  Specifically, this instruction would supply the students with the knowledge and skills of scientific inquiry needed to critically evaluate new information and advances in treatment.  But nothing like this initiative had ever been attempted at Baylor College of Dentistry; this effort would bring research and dentistry together as partners.

The major purpose of CUSPID was the creation of a new curriculum intended to teach the dental students how to evaluate scientific studies for veracity, particularly those testing dental materials and treatment methods. Being able to “interpret” the scientific literature would obviously help the future dentists in their careers.  After dental school, most will go on to private practice, where they will face questions such as “Which is better – cement A or cement B?” or “The manufacturer of this composite filling material says it is proven to be stronger than any other composites.  How do I know if that claim is true or not?”  Learning how to critically evaluate scientific literature is thus at the core of evidence-based dentistry, a term referring to the practice of using reliable scientific evidence to back up sound dental treatment methods. 

The new curriculum developed to teach evidence-based dentistry was introduced incrementally, beginning with the D1 students.  In the fall 2008 semester, Introduction to Evidence-based Dentistry (EBD) and Clinical Research was initiated, and the EBD venture was thus set in motion.  The following year, the D1 course was given again, and the D2 course was introduced.  The third year of the grant, a D3 course was added, and finally in the 2011-2012 academic year, all four years of dental classes featured an EBD course.  Instead of the lecture and small-group format of the first-year course, the upper level courses consisted of small-group learning experiences, where students presented CATs (Critically Appraised Topics) of published articles on materials or treatments used in dentistry.   

Before the students could learn about EBD, the class instructors themselves needed training.  During the summer, small groups of faculty members learned about EBD so that they would be able to convey the basic concepts of EBD and lead small-group sessions where the research methodology of scientific articles focused on both basic and clinical research would be examined.

Another accomplishment of CUSPID was the creation of the Dental Scholars, a select group of dental students who plan to participate in clinical or translational dental research during a dental academic research career.  Entering and D1 students have the opportunity to apply for the Dental Scholars program; acceptance is based on their research background and career interests and goals.  Each Dental Scholar is mentored by a faculty member, and during the academic year, the Scholars attend seminars, and perform research rotations, as well as clinical research rotations.  During the D4 year, the Scholars are required to take a teaching skills course and complete a teaching internship.  Altogether the program provides a rich set of experiences for students who are interested in a career path toward teaching and research in dentistry.

The activities of CUSPID also focus on faculty enrichment through the Clinical Colloquium seminar series.  Nationally known leaders in various areas of dentistry are invited to Baylor College of Dentistry to share their expertise and experiences in clinical dentistry.

During the past four years, CUSPID has already had an important effect on the academic lives of both students and faculty at Baylor College of Dentistry and has narrowed the gap between research and clinical dentistry.  The initiatives the grant set in motion will continue to help the College meet its strategic goal to educate graduate dentists as critical thinkers and life-long learners by means of a curriculum built around knowledge and skills.

Recognition of BMS Teaching and Research Activity

The Department of Biomedical Sciences received two “pats on the back” during 2011:

College’s Successful CODA Accreditation Site Visit Reflects BMS Contributions

The college routinely undergoes accreditation evaluations every seven years, but 2011 was a banner year regarding the outcome of the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) site visit.  The report from the site visit team included no recommendations and, in fact, listed nine strengths. In five of these strengths, BMS plays an important or leading role at the College (seen in bold below). 

1. The College’s outstanding commitment to diversity.
2. The teamwork, positivity and shared vision of excellence among faculty, staff and students.
3. The overall strength of the clinical programs
4. The outstanding efforts made to track student’s clinical progress through the quality assessment grading format.
5. The support of the research mission by multiple sources of funding.
6. The research and clinical infrastructure of the school are up to date and supported at the highest level as logistically convenient.
7. The efforts to integrate the biomedical courses to insure continuity and maximum synergy of the student’s biomedical education.
8. Innovative programs such as the evidence-based courses and integrated sciences course that stimulate higher levels of learning.
9. The asset of a biomedical sciences faculty dedicated to the education of dental and dental hygiene professionals.

TAMHSC-BCD Department of Biomedical Sciences is Ranked in the 2012 US News and World Report Ranking of Best Graduate Programs in the Biomedical Sciences

US News and World Report recently performed a survey of graduate programs in the biomedical sciences throughout the United States.  Based on the score it received, the Texas A&M Health Science Center Baylor College of Dentistry Department of Biomedical Sciences tied for #115 with several other graduate schools or departments.  A total of 257 departments or graduate schools were evaluated.  At first glance, being one of the 115^th place holders may not seem to be particularly noteworthy, but when placed in the context of being reviewed beside entire graduate schools, the significance of the accomplishment grows.  Dr. Paul Dechow, Professor and Vice Chair of the department, commented “I find it amazing that a small and highly specialized program like ours would be ranked at all.” 

Among the Texas schools rated in this survey, BCD’s Biomedical Sciences ranked 10^th.  Of the 16 Texas universities listed, some of the entities evaluated were whole graduate schools, some were departments.  Of the single department rankings, the Department of Biomedical Sciences came in third, behind the Departments of Biology at Texas A&M University and at Baylor University.  More importantly, this Baylor College of Dentistry graduate program was the only one on the list nationally that is primarily associated with a dental school.

Dr. Dechow sees this news in a very positive light:  “I take this as a testament to our hard work that we have been put on the map by this recognition.”

Dr. D’Souza elected Fellow in American Association for the Advancement of Science

Dr. Rena D’Souza was elected to the rank of Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and received a certificate and rosette in honor of her election in a ceremony during the AAAS Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, on February 18, 2012.

She was nominated by Bruce Donoff, DMD, MD, Dean of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine; Laurie McCauley, DDS, MS, PhD, Professor in the Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine at the University of Michigan; and Lois Cohen, PhD, Consultant, National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIH/NIDCR).

AAAS is an international non-profit organization dedicated to advancing science around the world by serving as an educator, leader, spokesperson and professional association. In addition to organizing membership activities, AAAS publishes the journal Science, as well as many scientific newsletters, books and reports, and spearheads programs to promote the understanding of science worldwide.

Each year AAAS Council elects new Fellows whose “efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications are scientifically or socially distinguished.”  This honor was first bestowed in 1874.  Dr. D’Souza was recognized for distinguished contributions to the field of craniofacial biology research, the education of future dentist-scientists, and effective leadership and service roles in a number of professional organizations.  She has a long history of research on craniofacial abnormalities and headed a team of researchers who discovered the PAX9 gene, which is responsible for a unique form of molar oligodontia, a congenital condition in which some of the teeth are missing.  She has also been a strong advocate for the training of dentist-scientists, who are dual-degreed (DDS/PhD) in dentistry and oral biology and will lead efforts to find cures for diseases and conditions affecting the mouth and teeth.  Dr. D’Souza’s involvement in professional activities has included various roles at NIDCR and the current presidency of the American Association for Dental Research.

Honors and Awards

Dr. Lynne Opperman, Professor, was named a Fellow of the American Association of Anatomists (AAA) in 2011.  The rank of Fellow is designed to honor distinguished members who have demonstrated excellence in science and in their overall contributions to the anatomical sciences.  Fellows are considered to be in the top 10% tier of all eligible members.  Dr. Opperman was recognized at the AAA Annual Awards Banquet on April 12, 2011, during the AAA Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Maria Serrano, postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Kathy Svoboda’s lab, participated in the Hatton Award competition held during the IADR/AADR annual meeting in San Diego, CA, in March 2011. The AADR finalists, who were selected on the basis of an oral presentation competition, were all junior investigators (junior, senior and postdoctoral) exhibiting potential for a productive career in dental research.  Winners of the AADR competition then competed in the IADR Hatton award contest with other finalists from around the world.

Dr. Ashneet Sachar, graduate student, was a finalist for the American Association of Anatomists Langman Graduate Student Platform Presentation Award in 2011.  The first-prize winner received $500 and a certificate.   

Dr. Yongbo (Bob) Lu was selected as an AIMM-ASBMR Haddad fellow (Advances in Mineral Metabolism-American Society for Bone and Mineral Research).  As a fellow, he received travel funds to attend and give a presentation at the John Haddad Young Investigators’ meeting held in Snowmass, Colorado, on April 4-9, 2011.

Dr. Shankar Venugopalan, a former PhD student in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, was awarded the Harvard Presidential Scholarship, which will cover one year of tuition at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine where he is in the Orthodontics and DMSc Degree program.  

Bringing the Basic and Clinical Worlds Together

For many years, the basic sciences and clinical sciences seemed to be worlds apart in dental school education.  First-year dental students struggled through courses in physiology, anatomy, biochemistry and more, learning facts and memorizing terminology having to do with the biology of the human body.  When the students’ second year in dental school began, their attention turned to clinical matters: operative dentistry, fixed and removable prosthodontics, periodontics, and others.  As they learned the protocols for various clinical dental procedures, the facts and terminology from the first year may have faded for many students.  Thus, there seemed to be a disconnect between the basic science foundation laid in the D1 year and the subsequent clinical training.

Educators at some dental schools have once again tried to tackle the problem of integrating the scientific knowledge the students gain in the first year with the practice of clinical dentistry in the following three years.  The rationale behind this movement is the belief that the traditional dental curriculum has not taught the best method for linking a patient’s oral disease with the physiological mechanisms of the entire body and the anatomical areas affected by the disease and the relationship of these mechanisms to other systemic diseases.  The students’ store of knowledge from their first year represents a potential source of information to be used for diagnosis and treatment planning but historically was an untapped resource because of the invisible divide between the various basic and clinical science courses.

In 2010, Baylor College of Dentistry (BCD) joined a handful of other dental schools in the U.S. that have introduced integrative sciences courses into their curriculum.  Led by Dr. Rena D’Souza and Dr. Charles Arcoria as course directors, the Biomedical Sciences (BMS) faculty began a new one-semester course with case-based examinations.  Practice in answering case-based questions was offered in the BMS courses and also in sample questions posted on Blackboard. After the initial offering of this course to the D1 students in Spring, 2010, modifications were made at the suggestion of the faculty and in response to feedback from the students.  The course was thus moved to the Fall semester of the D2 year in order to include more of the D2 preclinical and basic science material in the case-based scenarios.

Another motivation for formally offering a course in the integration of the basic with the clinical sciences was that such exercises comprise 20% of the questions on the National Board Part 1 exam.  Practicing this mode of questions in the integrative sciences course would prepare the students well for this exam. 

This “problem-based learning” approach will support the American Dental Association Accreditation Standards stating that “Biomedical science knowledge must be of sufficient depth and scope for graduates to apply advances in modern biology to clinical cases and to integrate new medical knowledge and therapies relevant to oral health care” and that “Graduates must be competent in the use of critical thinking and problem solving related to the comprehensive care of patients.”

Along the same lines, the American Dental Education Association’s guidelines on the skills for the New Dentist also include competencies on “obtaining and interpreting patient/medical data, including a thorough intra/extraoral examination and using these findings to accurately assess and manage all patients”.  They also expect students to be able to “recognize the manifestations of systemic disease and how the disease and its management may affect the delivery of dental care.”

The BCD faculty involved in this effort believe that integrating the basic with the clinical will better prepare students as they proceed through their clinical training.

New Microscope Enhances BCD's Research Capabilities

A new confocal microscope was purchased in 2010 to augment the research capabilities of BCD’s light microscope facility. This  instrument, the Leica TCS SP5, can detect at least four signal wavelengths and is available for physiological experiments on live tissues and organ-cultured specimens.  It was obtained through an NIH shared instrumentation grant funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus money allocated to NIH in 2009.

BCD’s old confocal microscope, a Leica TCS SP2 Confocal Scanning Laser Microscope (CSLM), was over 10 years old with more than 5,500 logged hours on the lasers.   The new microscope offers users a faster scan rate, wider field and longer working distance objectives in a controlled environment.  It strengthened the BCD core facilities for current studies and other projects arising after the capabilities of the microscope had been fully explored.  Faculty, students, postdoctoral fellows and technicians needing to use the instrument are trained in its operation. Instrument utilization has also been integrated into the appropriate graduate courses that include practical research applications, such as Techniques in Cell and Molecular Biology, and Microscopy.  Besides being a tool that current faculty, staff, and students can use, it is also be beneficial for the recruitment of new students, postdoc­toral fellows and basic science faculty.

Dr. Kathy Svoboda was the Principal Investigator of the half million-dollar grant that funded the new microscope.  Other participants on the grant application were Drs. Rena D’Souza, Jerry Feng, Phillip Kramer, Chunlin Qin, Bruno Ruest, Robert Spears, Douglas Benson, Lynne Opperman, and Avadhesh Sharma. The Biomedical Sciences Resource Committee, composed of Drs. Phillip Kramer, Allen Honeyman (chair), Lynne Opperman, Bruno Ruest and Kathy Svoboda, oversees the policies and use of this instrument.  

Six P30 Seed Grants Awarded

In 2009 TAMHSC Baylor College of Dentistry (BCD) was one of seven institutions in the U.S. to be awarded grant funding through the NIH "Biomedical Research Core Centers to Enhance Research Resources" initiative, otherwise known as the "P30” grant mechanism. During the two-year grant period, BCD’s $1.4 million award has been spent in two phases: the first phase concentrated on the hiring of two new bioengineering faculty. The first of these bioengineers is Dr. Xiaohua Liu, and the second is Dr. Venu Varanasi. In the second phase, approximately $250,000 in seed research funds is being made available to the BCD faculty to develop bioengineering and translational research projects in collaboration with the new bioengineering faculty. The primary purpose of these seed funds is to generate preliminary data for extramural grant submissions focusing on translational bioengineering research that promotes clinical treatment advances. These projects can be on topics such as craniofacial tissue regeneration, bioengineering for bone, tooth and periodontium, biomimetic approaches to novel implant design, biological interfaces for the delivery of therapeutics, delivery systems for novel TMJ therapeutics, device design, optimization, analysis, and modeling, biomimetic scaffold design, nanostructured materials, stem cell-mediated approaches, 3-D delivery systems, bioactive factors, and drug release devices. The awards may support translational research combining both basic biomedical and clinical science approaches.

All full-time faculty at BCD, including clinicians, clinical and basic science researchers, early-career investigators (i.e., Instructors or Assistant Professors), and senior investigators, were eligible to apply for the first round of funding in July 2010. The grant administrators looked for translational and clinical projects offering innovative solutions for problems in oral health care.

In the first round of funding, the following faculty were awarded seed grants funded for one year by the NIH P30 grant program, “Baylor’s Program for Bioengineering Sciences and Translational Research: B-BEST”:

Dr. Jerry Feng, Department of Biomedical Sciences: “BMP receptor 1A (Bmp1a) null osteoblast cells accelerate bone/tooth repair”

Dr. Takashi Komabayashi, Department of Endodontics: “Innovative endodontic inter-canal medication for open apex permanent teeth using an intelligent release system of calcium hydroxide”

Dr. Phillip Kramer, Department of Biomedical Sciences: “Drug-loaded microspheres and TMJ pain treatment”

Dr. Paula Ortiz, Department of Periodontics: “The effect of local delivery of TNF-α on periodontal disease”

Dr. Chunlin Qin, Department of Biomedical Sciences: “DMP1 and biomimetic nano-structured scaffold in osteogenesis”

Dr. Kathy Svoboda, Department of Biomedical Sciences: “Visualizing cell scaffold interactions in real time”

Dr. Liu, who is an expert in bioengineering studies on topics such as biomimetic nano-structured scaffolds and microsphere technology, is the co-investigator on each of these projects.