gator dentist today - College of Dentistry - University of Florida

This introspective process will demand the college make
some hard decisions about where future investments in research
should be made. So far, everyone seems to agree that clinical
translational research would enable greater alignment with
National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research goals
of continuing the “struggle” against two of the most common
infectious diseases — dental caries and periodontal diseases
— and the elimination of oral and pharyngeal malignancies,
craniofacial birth defects and developmental disorders, acute
and chronic orofacial pain, and other conditions that threaten
oral health.
“Clinical translational research and periodontal
research are areas in which we are not as strong as some other
institutions, but there’s a good foundation in place here on
which to build,” Burne said.
That foundation includes the college’s broad patient
base to support both areas of research. Burne believes a
few key recruitments of faculty to write the program
grants and do the research would be a big step in
the right direction.
Burne said another of the college’s
greatest strengths is its ability to establish
collaborative relationships with multidisciplinary
researchers at the health center. “I
think it’s easy to recruit people to Florida when
you recruit in areas where people can see immediate
linkages,” Burne said. “For instance, there are a
lot of logical applications in dentistry for areas like
biomemetics (tissue engineering), involving
everything from implants to stem cell biology. We
have a great stem cell group conducting research
in the Health Science Center and a brand new
biomedical engineering program.”
Building on Success
Collaborative efforts among dental
scientists and researchers in other areas of the
Health Science Center have already proven
fruitful. Several important patents have resulted from these
research partnerships, including a technology called IVIAT,
which identifies proteins expressed by disease-causing bacteria
during the infection process. IVIAT was initially developed
to study infections of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans in
juvenile periodontitis patients. It is also licensed to researchers
outside the university for use in the study of a wider array of
viral, fungal, parasitic and other bacterial infections, including
that of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis patients.
The department of oral biology’s Center for Molecular
Microbiology supports collaboration among infectious disease
researchers and clinicians from the colleges of Dentistry,
Medicine and Veterinary Medicine. The focus of the center is to
explore the mechanisms of microbial pathogenesis and invent
novel technologies for the discovery of new antimicrobial
targets, vaccines and diagnostics.
One of the Center for Molecular Microbiology’s
exciting developments is the recently patented technology for
the treatment of malignant tumors, based on the findings of UF
dental researchers Ann Progulske-Fox, Ph.D., and Emil Kozarov,
“I think this college
is extremely strong
in basic science
research.... Yet there
is a tremendous
amount of untapped
potential....”
Ph.D. They discovered that enzymes produced by the oral
bacterium Porphyromonas gingivalis have the ability to degrade
the bonds that hold certain types of human cells together.
The patented technology using the enzyme can be applied
to selectively destroy newly formed blood vessels that feed
tumors, while at the same time loosening the cellular structure
of the tumor to allow greater access for current therapeutics.
They also are investigating the potential of applying the
technology to other diseases that require the growth of new
blood vessels, such as macular degeneration, psoriasis and
rheumatoid arthritis.
Other research partnerships exist between the college
faculty and researchers at the university’s McKnight Brain
Institute, medicine’s department of rheumotology, the Center
for Orphaned Autoimmune Disorders, and the Shands Hospital
Cancer Center.
Another strength of the college’s research is its
diversity and quality. State-of-the-art techniques
are used to study the molecular genetics and
physiology of bacterial pathogenesis; the
physiology, pharmacology and genetics
of exocrine secretion; basic function and
modulation of the mucosal immune system;
autoimmunity; and the interaction of pathogenic
organisms with host cells.
Burne predicts the research infrastructure
planning assessment will also identify molecular and
cellular immunology as areas in need of recruitment,
but he defers final judgment to the internal and
external advisory committees that will be formed
as part of the assessment.
“The internal and external advisory
committees are going to have a lot of work to
do. But one of the things that surprised me was
that, when you tally up all of the numbers, early
feedback is not out of proportion to what is
realistic,” Burne said.
It is very realistic to expect the college
will continue its expansion of research activities,
building on the synergy created by collaborations with other
Health Science Center researchers and the scientific community’s
growing arsenal of hi-tech tools. These research efforts will lead
to improved clinical treatments for a broad spectrum of patient
maladies in both dentistry
and medicine.
“We have been
successful largely because
of a small number of highly
productive people. We now
have a golden opportunity
to go to the next level
and become the type of
institution that is conducting
state-of-the-art research of
the type that the National
Institute of Dental and
Craniofacial Research wants
done in dental schools,”
Burne said.
Photo - Lindy Brounley
Gator Dentist Today Fall/Winter 2003 11