Strides in Science
AADR Strides in Science is a monthly feature highlighting an AADR member’s accomplishments and comments on how his/her involvement with AADR has been an important part of his/her career in research. If you would like to nominate a colleague to be featured, please send his/her name to scienceadvocate@aadronline.org.
August 2010
Ophir D. Klein, M.D., Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Departments of Orofacial Sciences and Pediatrics and the Institutes for Human Genetics and Regeneration Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Last year, he was appointed as Director of the UCSF Program in Craniofacial and Mesenchymal Biology, a cross-campus program based in the School of Dentistry. As an active member of AADR and IADR, he is a director of the Craniofacial Biology Scientific Group and he serves on the Science Information Committee.
The research in the Klein lab is centered on understanding and treating the processes underlying craniofacial and dental malformations, which are among the most common congenital abnormalities and have profound impacts on the lives of patients and their families. The main focus of the lab is the use of mice as a genetic model system to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for normal and perturbed development of teeth, skeleton, taste papillae, and other organs. Specifically, Klein is interested in the role of growth factor signaling and cell-matrix interactions in the formation of orofacial structures, in the mineralization of bones, and in the regulation of adult stem cells in teeth.
Klein’s research is widely published and he has earned many accolades, including a California Institute of Regenerative Medicine New Faculty Award, a March of Dimes Basil O'Connor Award and an ASBMR Harold M. Frost Young Investigator Award.
Joined AADR in 2008.
Education
1993 University of California, Berkeley B.A., Spanish
1999 Yale University, New Haven, Conn. Ph.D., Genetics
2000 Yale University, New Haven, Conn. M.D.
What led you to enter the field of craniofacial research?
I followed a bit of a winding path to end up here. After my pediatric residency, I was a clinical genetics fellow at UCSF and during my fellowship I became interested in syndromes involving the craniofacial complex. At the same time, I was working in the lab of Gail Martin and found a mouse mutant that had dental abnormalities. I didn’t know anything about teeth at that time, because I am a pediatrician and not a dentist. As I started to interact with the dental research community both at UCSF and at other institutions, I became interested in dental stem cells and it just all came together between the clinical and the basic science components.
How has AADR been instrumental to your career in dental and craniofacial research?
I think AADR is great at giving members opportunities to interact and to present their work. I first became involved with AADR when I was invited to give a talk at a symposium, and I enjoyed the meeting so much that I joined. The main attractions for me were having access to collaborators, being able to network and meet people in the field, and being able to meet with program officers from NIDCR and learn about funding opportunities. This year, as a director of the Craniofacial Biology Scientific Group, I co-organized a symposium at the AADR Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. I’m also on the IADR Science Information Committee. I’m very committed to AADR, and I find the meetings very useful.
What research are you currently conducting?
In my lab, a lot of our current work is devoted to developing the rodent incisor as a model for dental stem cells and for regeneration in general. We also have major efforts in embryonic tooth development as well as in the development of other organs, including taste papillae of the tongue, the skeleton and the genitourinary tract. We focus in large part on Sprouty genes, which are antagonists of fibroblast growth factor signaling, but we also study a number of other signaling pathways and transcriptional regulators. Our work involves looking into the basic aspects of how genes are involved in regulating development and stem cells, and we feel that doing the basic biology is really important. Of course clinical applications are what we all hope to achieve in the long run but I think it’s really important to continue doing the basic science so that we can understand more deeply how biology works.
You are the recipient of the 2009-2011 March of Dimes Basil O'Connor Award. What research is being funded through this award?
I was really pleased that the March of Dimes funded this research project because I thought that it was out-of-the-box for them. The award is funding a project using the rodent incisor model in which we are looking at the function of a particular cell adhesion molecule. That research was presented at the IADR General Session in Barcelona. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend that meeting, but Chunying Li, a scientist from my lab (also an AADR/IADR member), gave a platform presentation on that work. Now, I’m writing another March of Dimes grant to seek funding for a more clinical project to look at genetic abnormalities in patients in our UCSF Center for Craniofacial Anomalies.
What are some of your research goals?
One of our major goals is to obtain a strong understanding of how genetic and cellular mechanisms regulate the ability of stem cells to contribute to dental renewal at a fundamental level. Another goal is to try to understand how stem cells developed during evolution. We think that teeth are a great developmental model and that they will allow us to combine evolutionary studies in terms of paleontology and morphology with genetics studies. Another big area that I am focusing on now is to really try to develop the research enterprise in our UCSF Center for Craniofacial Anomalies.
What advice or encouragement do you offer your students who want to pursue careers in dental research?
I have a couple of students who are in the D.D.S./Ph.D. program in my lab. I’m really excited for them and the work they are doing because I think they have enormous opportunities ahead of them if they work hard and push to excel. In general, I try to encourage and challenge my students to do their best and to trust that they will have very bright futures if they do so. Last year, one of my students, Alex Nee, won an IADR/Unilever Hatton Award at the Miami meeting and that was a proud moment. He’s now an orthodontic resident at UCSF and I think he had a good experience doing research while in dental school that will be valuable for him throughout his career. Working in a research lab was a really amazing time for me as a student and I hope I can help to make it as exciting for those students who work in my lab.
July 2010
Clark Stanford, D.D.S, Ph.D., joined the University of Iowa College of Dentistry in 1992. He became associate dean for research in 2008 and was named Centennial Fund Professor of Clinical Research in 2000. Stanford also became director of the Office for the Clinical Research in 2002. He holds secondary appointments in the, Department of Rehabilitation and Orthopedic Surgery (College of Medicine), and the Department of Biomedical Engineering (College of Engineering).
Stanford is currently working on four projects: the evaluation of the differential osteoblast response to oxide metal surfaces; characterization of matrix associated glycoproteins in an in vitro culture system; collaborative work with the Department of Orthopaedics, University Hospitals and Clinics, involving bone responses to a mechanically active environment. He has a range of research projects dealing with translational technologies to improve bone adaptation to orthopedic and dental implant surfaces. He recently started a new research program on oral facial pain in the Dental Clinical Research Center in collaboration with the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Institute for Clinical and Translational Sciences.
As a talented researcher, Stanford has earned many accolades for his findings. He is a past recipient of the IADR Distinguished Scientist Award for Prosthodontics and Implants, and the AADR Edward Hatton Award. In 2006, he received the JDR Article of the Year award. Showing a strong commitment to IADR and the dental research field, he has served on the IADR Research Award Nomination Committee since 2003.
Joined AADR in 1984.
Education:
1984 University of Iowa B.S., Zoology
1987 University of Iowa D.D.S, Dentistry
1992 University of Iowa Ph.D., Cell Biology
1992 University of Iowa Certificate in Prosthodontics
How did you first get involved with AADR?
I first became involved with AADR as a dental student while working in a dental research laboratory at the ADA. I was really fascinated at the prospect of the creative process of research discovery, assimilation and presenting research findings to my peers. Later, I realized the importance of the networking aspect and the value of having connections in different disciplines. Through networking and listening to allied disciplines, I made strong connections and knew who to call when I had research-related questions. This is the value of AADR.
What do you find is the most valuable benefit of your AADR membership?
One of the biggest advantages of my AADR membership is being able to network with others in different scientific disciplines and fields, and having the opportunity to present my research at meetings. At the meeting, you get a good sense of what happens in the research world and you get to meet new collaborators. My career has been to seek out others in different fields and collaborate, which has been a fun aspect of my career. The networking aspect is valuable, in addition to AADR’s advocacy and other elements that help PI’s on a day-to-day basis.
Where do you feel the research community would be without AADR?
AADR is the coherent, unified voice for dental, oral and craniofacial research, and without the Association there wouldn’t be a unified voice. We have been able to obtain a certain level of resource funding because of AADR’s advocacy and I want to see a continued advocacy role as the Association delivers important messages to Congress.
What do you want to see in the future for the AADR?
I think AADR needs to continue its outreach with other professional academies and associations because these groups can help amplify the message that is being sent to congress. The future of dental education is in jeopardy because existing dental schools are having a difficult time attracting faculty. As an added threat, there’s a questionable research component in the newer dental schools now coming online. We need to continue to convey the value of research to faculty and new schools. That’s a key place where AADR can show value and advocate.
What’s a message you want to give to future dental researchers?
Typically in dental education, some students want to know how to do something. Then, there is a smaller number of students who want to go beyond the “hows” and find out “why” things happen. Those students will ask “why” an outcome has occurred, consider the mechanisms leading to this outcome and start to consider the new “how” in avoiding dental and oral health disease. This is a segue into dental research. Even if a student decides to pursue a non-research career, I firmly believe there is benefit for students to complete a research study while they are in dental school. Doing so gives them problem-solving skills and adds value to her/his clinical education, making them both a better researcher and clinician. For added value, I present at schools to show students that the clinical researchers are addressing current problems and adapting solutions to real world problems. Students will always be surprised at how much they can learn through mentors. These mentors can be clinical and/or research faculty. A key to our future is to engage our students in important questions, to show the limits of our knowledge and to use this as a carrot to engage these minds in becoming the solutions to these issues though AADR.
View 2008, January 2009-September 2009 and October 2009-June 2010 features of the Strides in Science
