University of IL at Chicago College of Dentistry Student Mark Manos Awarded AADR Research Fellowship

CHICAGO - May 19, 2013 - PRLog -- University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry student Marc Manos recently was awarded a Research Fellowship from the American Association for Dental Research.

         He is one of only 16 students so honored nationwide, and only the second UIC College of Dentistry student, after Kelley Gyllenhaal, to receive the AADR Student Research Fellowship.

Manos is mentored by Dr. Christopher Engeland, Assistant Professor, Periodontics.

         Sponsored by Johnson & Johnson, the Fellowship provides a stipend of $2,100 plus $300 for supplies. Upon completion of the research and presentation at a future AADR annual meeting, Manos will receive an additional $600.

         The stipend will help fund Manos’ travel to and fees at various research meetings.

         Manos found out about the opportunity to apply for the Fellowship at the 2012 AADR meeting in Tampa, FL.

         “I was wrapping up a previous project I was working on with my mentor, and we began discussing options for how I could get involved in a new project,” Manos explained, noting that Dr. Engeland was just beginning a new clinical study looking at mucosal tissue repair in periodontitis. “So I was able to get involved,” he said.

         Wound healing and the role inflammation plays in mediating the healing response are chief areas of interest in Dr. Engeland’s lab, and so Manos wrote a Fellowship proposal, “The Role of Inflammation in Wound Healing and Periodontal Disease,” to the AADR.

         “Overall, the process of application was a great learning experience and although it involved a lot of work and time investment outside of school, it was well worth it,” he said.

         Manos and Dr. Engeland are comparing differences in healing rates and inflammatory responses between individuals with periodontitis and healthy control individuals. Dr. Praveen Gajendrareddy, Assistant Professor, Periodontics, is the Principal Investigator.

“This is a pilot study, and in the future we look to treat periodontitis in the study and compare pre- and post-treatment data to differentiate between local inflammation and possessing a hyper-inflammatory phenotype” Manos said.

Manos wants to pursue a master’s degree after graduating from dental school. “I would like to take the skills and knowledge from all the years of schooling, and incorporate clinically based research into my practice, while continuing to stay actively involved in research,” he said.

“I am very excited at the timing of this Fellowship, and am really looking forward to the future of this study,” Manos concluded. “We have begun seeing our first participants in the study. I will be having direct interactions with all the participants, because one aspect of how I am involved is taking intra-oral pictures of the wounds.”

 The University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry is celebrating its 100th year as a college of the University of Illinois in 2013 with special events throughout the year under the theme “A Proud Past, A Brilliant Future.”