2016 Summer Research Program for DDS and DH Students
Projects
Supervisor(s)
Project
Abd-Elmeguid, Ashraf Title: Volumetric analysis of pulp space and descriptive analysis of
calcified root canals.
Status
(Open,
*Pending or
Filled)
Open
Abd-Elmeguid, Ashraf Title: Effect of different Irrigants on the preparation of calcified root
canal.
Open
Alsufyani, Noura
Open
Alsufyani, Noura
Amin, Maryam
Amin, Maryam
Amin, Maryam
Amin, Maryam;
Ganatra, Seema
Elahi, Shokrollah
Title: Systematic review of Cone beam CT incidental findings of the
cervical spine and clivus
Brief summary: The aim is to systematically review the literature to
document the number and nature of incidental findings noted in the cervical
spine and clivus. These extragnathic sites represent challenging differential
diagnosis for the expert and novice radiologists.
Title: Accuracy of Upper airway segmentation using low resolution cone
beam CT: A pilot study
Brief summary: Using a semi-automatic segmentation program, the aim is
to compare the upper airway reconstruction using low-moderate resolution
cone beam CT. The results of this study may impact the CBCT protocol for
upper airway analysis to reduce radiation dose.
Title: Immigrant Parent's Sense of Coherence and Children's Oral Health
Status and Related Behaviors.
Brief summary: The aim of this community-based cross-sectional study is
to explore the associations between parents/caregivers coping skills and
oral health status and oral health-related behaviors of their children among
recent immigrant families in Edmonton.
Title: Patient's compliance and success of orthodontic treatments.
Brief summary: The aim of this retrospective clinical project is to assess
the association between four important behaviors related to orthodontic
treatment compliance (oral hygiene, appointment punctuality, appliance
wear, and appliance maintenance) and the successful outcome of the
treatment (achieving promising treatment outcomes after the anticipated
treatment time, stability of the treatment).
Title: Partnership for Prevention: Integrating Preventive Oral Health
Measures into Pediatric Primary Care for First Nations Children.
Brief summary: The overall goal of this project is to establish a collegial
partnership between medical and dental providers and a First Nation
community in order to successfully integrate preventive oral health
measures into a Pediatric Outreach Clinic in the Maskwacis Health Centre.
Title: A Comprehensive Oral Health Needs Assessment among
Underprivileged Communities in Edmonton.
Brief summary: This cross-sectional study aims to comprehensively
assess unmet dental, periodontal, and oral mucosal health needs of
underprivileged communities in Edmonton, with a special focus on
screening for pre-cancerous and cancerous lesions of oral mucosa.
Title: Investigating the cross talk between CD71+ erythroid cells and
regulatory T cells.
Brief summary: In this project the student will use tissue culture assays
and flow cytometry techniques to determine the cross talk between
Open
Open
Open
Open
Open
Open
CD71+ erythroid cells and regulatory T cells using newborn mice
splenocytes.
Elahi, Shokrollah
Eggert, Michael
Febbraio, Maria
Febbraio, Maria
Flood, Patrick
Flood, Patrick
Flores-Mir, Carlos
Title: Investigating the immunological factors associated with the
development of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in newborns.
Brief summary: In this project the student will use tissue culture assays,
flow cytometry and PCR techniques on cells obtained from mothers with
IBD compared with non-IBD mothers to determine possible predisposing
mechanism of IBD induction in their offspring.
Title: Clinical Demographics of Periodontal Patients attending the UofA
School of Dentistry.
Title: Does CD36 signaling impact fatty acid uptake and esterification?
Brief summary: In this project the student will use tissue culture assays to
determine whether CD36 alters fatty acid uptake & esterification. Fatty
acids are critical to energy and construction of cell membranes and
organelles, but we still don’t understand how they enter cells. This project
will provide the student with opportunities to learn basic cell biology
techniques and address a mystery in our understanding of fatty acid
biology.
Title: Creation of CD36 mutants by site directed mutagenesis.
Brief summary: Have you ever wanted to be a genetic engineer? This is
your chance-in this project you will use cutting edge molecular biology
techniques to engineer specific mutations in CD36 by site-directed
mutagenesis. These will then be expressed in tissue culture cells and tested
for their ability to perform CD36 functions. Those that no longer take up
fatty acids but can do all other CD36 functions will be used in future
studies.
Title: Inhibition of the oxidative stress response induced by LPS from
Periodontal pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis by B2-Adrenergic
Receptor agonists.
Brief Summary: B2-Adrenergic receptor agonists are used as inhalants to
treat Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and it has been
found that they are strong anti-inflammatory drugs which can inhibit other
chronic inflammatory conditions in patients who regularly use
them. Periodontal Disease (PD) is a chronic inflammatory condition of the
oral cavity, and is caused by an inflammatory response to the biofilm
infection of the periodontal pocket. This aim of this project is to determine
if b2-AR agonists can inhibit the oxidative stress response in inflammatory
cells induced by Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg), one of the major
Periodontal pathogens thought to cause PD .
Title: Conversion of a pro-inflammatory to an anti-inflammatory response
by NF-kB inhibitors.
Brief Summary: NF-kB inhibitors have been used to successfully treat
chronic inflammatory conditions such as IBD, cardiovascular disease,
Parkinson’s disease, and cancer in animal models of these human
diseases. Periodontal Disease (PD) is a chronic inflammatory condition of
the oral cavity caused by an inflammatory response to the pathogen
bacteria. One of the most common ones identified as causing PD is
Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg), which produces an endotoxin that is highly
inflammatory. The aim of this study is to determine if a small molecule
pharmaceutical NF-kB inhibitor can inhibit the production of proinflammatory cytokines and enhance the production of anti-inflammatory
cytokines in Pg endotoxin-stimulated macrophages.
Title: “Patient’s experiences at 1 week, 1 month and 2 months using fixed
class II correctors delivered through two distinct treatment protocol”.
Open
Pending
Open
Open
Open
Open
Open
Graf, Daniel
Graf, Daniel
Lagravere, Manual
Lagravere, Manual
Lagravere, Manual
Levin, Liran
Levin, Liran
Levin, Liran
Lockwood, Sally
Martinez, Ysidora
Torrealba
Martinez, Ysidora
Torrealba
Martinez, Ysidora
Torrealba
Pachêco-Pereira,
Camila; Flores Mir,
Carlos
Passos, Sheila
Brief Summary: Surveys have been collected as part of randomized
clinical trial.
Title: How do Bmp signals shape the adult tooth-alveolar bone complex
Description: This project can accommodate 2 students.
Bone Morphogenetic Proteins (BMP) are important regulators of tooth
development. Their contribution to tissue homeostasis in adult teeth is less
studied, though evidence supports their involvement in orthodontic tooth
movement. In this project we investigate the tooth-alveolar bone complex
in BMP mutant mice to define changes to in enamel, dentin, cementum,
periodontal ligament, and roots. Techniques employed are histology,
immunohistochemistry, µCT.
Title: Skull formation in compound BMP2/7-deficient mice
Description: Bone Morphogenetic proteins are important regulators of
bone formation. Loss of Bmp2 and Bmp7 affects size, shape, and
mineralization of the calvaria. We will characterize differences in shape
and mineralization (Alizarin red staining, µCT) of newborn mice. We will
set up calvaria explant cultures and calvaria osteoblast cultures to study
differences in osteoblast differentiation and bone mineralization.
Techniques involve skeletal preparations, microscopy, dissection oof
calvaria, tissue culture, qPCR.
Title: Analysis of Cone-beam computer tomographies (CBCT- 3D images)
Title: Analysis of Three-dimensional facial scans
Title: Analysis of 3D model print outs
Title: Long term evaluation of implants and teeth survival and success.
Title: Review of hot topics in periodontology.
Title: The use of protective mouth-guards among hockey players.
Title: Using video clips to support learning in preclinical dental hygiene
education
Description: The objective of this research is to investigate the use of
video clips as a learning resource in preclinical dental hygiene education.
Over the past few years, videos have been developed in an attempt to add
a valuable learning resource to the preclinical program. The intent of this
study is to gather feedback from the students in order to support further
development of teaching materials and to discover whether the teaching
video clips are a useful addition to the course content
resources. Specifically, are the videos useful in helping the student achieve
their learning objectives?
Part of the summer project will include ongoing development of videos to
be added to the learning resources for this pre-clinical Dental Hygiene
course.
Open
Open
Open
Open
Open
Open
Open
Open
Open
Title: Accuracy evaluation of a 3-D educational software.
Open
Title: Comparison of the 3-D digital impression and 3-D print out
model.
Title: Evaluation of different CAD-CAM digital restorations.
Open
Title: Patient Satisfaction after orthodontic treatment.
Description: This survey is in place and the data has been collected
since July/2015. The student commitment will be related to data
analysis, interpretation of results and article draft. Flexible schedule
during summer time.
Title: Understanding the microstructural bonding mechanisms
between zirconia and porcelain
Open
Open
Open
Passos, Sheila
Senior, Anthea;
Ganatra, Seema;
Alsufyani. Noura;
Pachêco-Pereira,
Camila
Senior, Anthea;
Ganatra, Seema;
Alsufyani. Noura;
Pachêco-Pereira,
Camila
Yoon, Minn
Title The effect of heating procedures during fabrication of zirconiabased restorations.
Title: Retake rates in oral radiology
Description: This project will present frequency of the most common
reasons of clinical retakes on an undergraduate dental school.
Open
Title: Patient safety in oral radiology, specifically promoting the use
of rectangular collimator in private practices.
Pending
Pending
Title: TBD
*Projects will be marked pending when a student has informed Heather Good that a supervisor has accepted them for a
project, but the paperwork is not yet complete.
For more information, please contact Heather Good at 780-492-4469 (hgood@ualberta.ca)
INFORMATION FOR SUPERVISORS
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For the summer of 2015, the SoD provided financial support for up to three students per supervisor. If a
supervisor had more than three students they had to guarantee financial support for the extra student(s) from their
own funds. We hope that the SoD will provide a similar level of support in 2016 however we are waiting for
confirmation of the level of support that will be available.
Each student should have their own project.
A detailed description of the project will need to be provided before any students will be signed up for your
project. The required information will include details about the training requirements for the student; details
about the type of certification or ethics approval required; and the status of the certification (a from will be
provided).
If certification or ethics approval is required for your project(s), proof of this approval is required before a letter of
offer will be formalized with the student.
Every supervisor is expected to report annually a list of the publications, presentations, and awards related to their
students’ summer research projects.
INFORMATION FOR STUDENTS
 We anticipate that the School of Dentistry (SoD) will provide some funding for University of Alberta (UofA)
DDS and DH expected to continue in their DH or DDS program in the fall of 2016. Each UofA DDS or DH
student was guaranteed up to 100 hours of financial support. Note: There will be opportunities for other
undergraduate students and volunteers, however, they should contact hgood@ualberta.ca or pflood@ualberta.ca
for more information.
 Student researchers are expected to have completed the appropriate safety and/or ethics training required for their
project before starting their project. The time required to complete this training will not be paid for by the School.
 A measureable outcome from this research program is expected from each summer research project. The
outcome expected could be in the form of publication and/or a presentation at a national or international
conference.
 The School will set aside $500.00 per student for travel funding, and students are also encouraged to apply to The
Fund For Dentistry for a Student Travel Award for additional funding if required ($500.00 maximum award per
student).
 Student researchers are expected to give an oral and written progress report at the end of the Summer Research
program.
 Student researchers are expected to attend monthly noon-hour research meetings over the summer.