New
Grants Awarded (2007-2008)
Rulang Jiang, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biomedical Genetics in the Center for Oral Biology
Associate Professor of Dentistry
Associate Professor of Biology
Genetic Basis of Cleft Lip and Palate
NIH R01DE015207
4/1/08-1/1/13
The major goals of this project are to characterize the molecular basis of the cleft lip and cleft palate phenotype in the Dancer and Twirler mutant mice.
James E. Melvin, D.D.S., Ph.D.
Professor of Pharmacology & Physiology in the Center for Oral Biology
Training Program in Oral Science
NIH 5T32DE07202
8/1/07-7/31/12
The Center for Oral Biology in the Aab Institute of Biomedical Sciences, in collaboration with the Departments of Pharmacology & Physiology, Microbiology & Immunology, Biomedical Genetics, Dentistry, Medicine and Dermatology, has been awarded $4M in funding by NIDCR/NIH to continue support for their T32 grant “Training Program in Oral Science.” A greater number of highly skilled, interactive clinician-scientists (DDS/DMD, MD, and PhD) with diverse expertise and who can effectively respond to the growing opportunities in dental, oral and craniofacial research must be generated for society to take advantage of the rapid and dramatic advances being made in the biomedical sciences.
Thus, the overall goal of the Training Program in Oral Science is to provide enhanced training opportunities for oral biologists and dentist-scientists that will enable them to pursue research careers in dentistry and medicine at academic, federal and industrial organizations. Cross-disciplinary training will focus on the fields of oral infectious diseases and the cellular, developmental and molecular biology of craniofacial structures with an emphasis on understanding the basic mechanisms that underlie the clinical manifestations of oral disease. The proposed curriculum will focus on the integration of basic science research and clinical practice. The Training Program focuses on the recruitment of dentists who wish to pursue a PhD and dentist-PhDs who want to engage in post-doctoral level training. A major component of the program is committed to the recruitment of dental students into a joint DMD-DDS/PhD program (DSTP). These are students who wish to coordinate their clinical training with PhD research studies. This novel program partners dental schools with excellent clinical programs, but with no PhD level training (University of Puerto Rico and Marquette University), with the highly regarded PhD programs at the research-intensive University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry. We will also recruit PhDs and baccalaureate degree-holders pursuing a PhD. In this manner, PhD level scientists can be exposed and ultimately recruited to the field of Oral Science.
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Role of the Clcn2 Cl Channel in Intestinal Fluid Secretion
Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, Inc.
7/1/08-6/30/10
The overall goal of this project is to evaluate the ability of the Clcn2 CL channel to stimulate intestinal fluid secretion.
Saliva & Salivary Gland Function Research Conference
NIH R13DE019317
6/26/08-6/25/09
Support provided for a research conference on saliva and salivary gland function to be held at the University of Rochester on June 26-28, 2008.
Wei
Hsu, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biomedical Genetics
in the Center for Oral Biology
Associate Professor of Oncology in the Cancer Center
Mammary Stem Cells in Development and Cancer
DOD Breast Cancer Research Program BC060349
5/14/07-6/13/10
The primary focus of this proposal is to explore the role of newly identified mammary stem cells in mammary development and tumorigenesis.
Robert G.
Quivey, Jr., Ph.D.
Director, Center for Oral Biology
Dean's
Professor of Microbiology & Immunology
Professor of Microbiology & Immunology
in the Center for Oral Biology
Fitness Profling of the Streptococcus mutans genome
NIH R01DE017425-01A1
6/1/07-5/31/12
The major goals of the proposed project are the following: Specific Aim 1a. High throughput methods will be tailored to reproducibly delete individual genes in the entire S. mutans genome. Each deletion will be marked by the presence of two unique DNA sequences (18-20 bp) such that abundance of each particular mutant strain in a population of mutants and wild type can be scored using these “bar codes.” Specific Aim 1b. A genomic set of marked deletions will be constructed, resulting in a library of S. mutans strains bearing knockouts of all non-essential genes. Methods to analyze gene function by fitness profiling will be used to determine a function for each gene in S. mutans. Specific Aim 2. To find genes that may affect growth in the oral cavity, we will test mutant strains for their ability to grow, in vitro, in acidic conditions. Then, we will use the knockout library in fitness profiling experiments under defined conditions, which will include the following: 1) co-culture of the library of mutant strains growing in acidic environments, including planktonic and biofilm cultures; and, 2) a mouse infection model, in which the mice are fed a highly cariogenic diet. These experiments will be done as screens for candidate strains to be examined individually in the mouse caries model. Specific Aim 3. We will also examine the ability of the library of mutant strains to grow in the presence of additional species of oral microbes, with the aim of identifying those genes in S. mutans that contribute to its ability to out-compete other oral organisms.
