Congratulations to below faculty in the College of Dentistry and UK regarding successful competitive review of their proposals for funding during the 2016-17 year through the Center of Biomedical Research Excellence Grant. The selected projects focus on research examining oral health and/or oral-systemic health linkages. The awarded seed grants will assist investigators in generating sufficient data to help develop competitive extramural funding opportunities.  

• Dr. Lorri Morford/UKCD (Collaborators: Dr. J. Hartsfield/UKCD; Dr. C. Wang/MCC) – “Genetic association analysis of known ovarian cancer susceptibility loci markers with human dental agenesis”
• Dr. Pinar Emecen-Huja/UKCD (Collaborators: Dr. J.L. Ebersole/UKCD; Dr. J. Unrine/CAFE; Dr. A. Morris/COM) – “The exposome poses risk factors for periodontal disease severity”
• Dr. Karin High/UKCOM (Collaborators: Dr. R. Danaher/UKCD; Dr. L. Van Eldik/SBCA; Dr. A. Bachstetter/SBCA) – “Small molecule relief of orofacial pain & prevention of tau expression”
• Dr. Rony Aouad/UKCOM (Collaborator: Dr. H. Swanson/COM) – “E-cigarettes, nicotine and nicotine receptors in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma”
• Dr. Rebecca Peyyala/UKCD (Collaborator: Dr. J.L. Ebersole/UKCD) – “Environmental lead effects on oral epithelial cell responses to pathogenic biofilms”

Updates on additional research funding are available at dentistry.uky.edu/research-funding.