Dear Colleagues:
As part of the NIH and NIDCR budget planning process, each year we identify research initiatives for three years forward. In developing these initiatives, we rely on input from our scientific advisory boards and extramural community. We also invite input from the public.
What are Initiatives?
"Initiatives" are a vehicle used by the Institutes and Centers to showcase future research goals to NIH, the Department of Health and Human Services, and Congress. Our initiative development process first involves the identification of broad research themes; subsequently, specific initiatives within the themes are proposed. The themes we have identified for FY 2007 are listed below.
How can you provide input?
For each topic area (theme) below, NIDCR staff team leaders/contacts are listed. Please send your comments related to specific topic areas directly to them. If you would like to suggest additional topic areas, or you have comments on the process for developing research initiatives, please contact Dr. Isabel Garcia (Isabel.Garcia@nih.gov). Please submit all comments no later than Friday, March 18, 2005. Thank you for your interest and input.
Proposed NIDCR FY 2007 Research Themes
1. Comparative Analysis of Post-Natal Stem Cells in the Oro-Craniofacial Complex
It has long been known that bone marrow contains a population of stem cells able to reform bone, cartilage, hematopoiesis-supportive stroma and fat (skeletal stem cells). It recently has been discovered that stem cells also exist in periodontal ligament, and in dental pulp from adult and deciduous teeth, capable of reforming PDL, cementum, dentin and a pulp-like complex. Preliminary analyses indicate that while they are similar, they are not identical in their characteristics, and in spite of the similarities in the protein composition of the specialized tissues that these stem cells form, the organization of these matrices is quite distinctive. This initiative would further characterize these different stem cell populations, at the transcriptome and proteome levels, to identify the key genes that are required for the specific organization of these unique tissues, which are crucial for the normal form and function of the oro-craniofacial complex. Leader/contact:
Pamela Gehron Robey: robey.pamela@nih.gov
2. Effects of Long-Term Use of Antiretroviral Therapy on the Oral Mucosa
The purpose of this initiative is to determine the long-term effects of the systemic use of antiretroviral therapy (ART) on, for example, the qualitative and quantitative makeup of the oral microbiota, the composition of the saliva, innate and adaptive immune networks of the oral mucosa and the oral epithelial structure and function. These studies can be conducted using ex-vivo organotypic models of the oral mucosa, simian models for AIDS and tissues from individuals receiving ART. Leader/contact:
Mostafa Nokta: Mostafa.Nokta@nih.gov
3. Head and Neck Cancers: Integrative Approaches for Delineating Tumor-Microenvironment Interactions
This initiative would focus on basic and translational studies that use multi-disciplinary, integrative systems biology, genomics/proteomics, and bio-imaging approaches to study tumor-microenvironment interactions and how these interactions could lead to head and neck cancer initiation and progression, i.e., from pre-malignant to malignant, from non-invasive to invasive or conversely, inhibit tumorigenesis. Leader/contact:
Yasaman Shirazi: yasaman.shirazi@nih.gov
4. Molecular Determinants of Pre-Malignant Oral Cancer Progression
This initiative would focus on identification of molecular markers that can be used collectively for early detection of oral/oropharyngeal cancers, and subsequently on testing their clinical utility. The research would encourage collaborative and integrative molecular approaches that aim to characterize and map pre-malignant oral lesions as well as adjacent or distal histologically normal mucosa. Leaders/contacts:
Yasaman Shirazi: yasaman.shirazi@nih.gov
Sven-Ulrik Gorr
Eleni Kousvelari: eleni.kousvelari@nih.gov
Maria T. Canto
5. Nanocomposite Materials for Dental Restorations
This research initiative would mainly focus on the use of nanotechnology and nanoscience approaches to design and develop new dental composite material combinations with superior properties, e.g., adhesive bonding to dentin and enamel surfaces, improved esthetics and biocompatibility. The initiative would encourage the use of modeling to enable rational design-driven modifications as well as the use of a novel high-throughput combinatorial approach to study: i) composite material combinations and their adhesive bonding to dentin and enamel surfaces, and ii) toxicity effects of dental composite materials. Leader/contact:
Rosemarie Hunziker
6. New Models of Trigeminal Pain for Basic and Translational Research
This initiative would stimulate the development and use of new human experimental pain models and new animal models of trigeminal pain in order to advance our knowledge of basic biological mechanisms underlying orofacial pain disorders. The initiative would encourage the implementation of human studies in translational research in order to validate novel animal correlates of human pain states (i.e., a bedside to bench approach). It also would encourage human behavioral investigations and high-throughput testing of new therapeutic approaches. Leader/contact:
John Kusiak: John.Kusiak@nih.gov
7. Ontogeny of the Oral Mucosal Response in Humans
Research in this initiative would be aimed at understanding how the oral mucosal immune response changes with age – that is, the ontogeny of the immune response over the lifespan of the individual. Such information would be important for understanding how infants, as well as the elderly, react to antigenic challenge and will be valuable in delineating the mechanisms by which the oral immune response confers protection. Leader/contact:
Sangeeta Bhargava
8. Research on the Translation of Oral Health Research Findings into Practice
The goal of this initiative is to evaluate strategies for accelerating the adoption and sustained use of newly validated preventive and therapeutic approaches for managing oral disease by dental professionals, other health care providers and the public. Leaders/Contacts:
Pat Bryant
Ruth Nowjack-Raymer: ruth.nowjack-raymer@nih.gov
9. Viral Evasion of Oral Defense Mechanisms in HIV/AIDS
Viruses are known to adapt and develop strategies to elude the innate and adaptive immune networks. Consequently they are associated with several oral complications in the immune compromised host in general and in HIV/AIDS in particular. The purpose of this initiative is to encourage research that will identify and characterize mechanisms by which viruses evade the host immune system. Examples of evasion include viral regulation of MHC expression and antigen presentation; viral mutation as a strategy to evade T cells and B cells; blockade of interferon signaling; and evasion of NK cell responses. The viruses of interest are those known to cause oral complications in HIV-infected individuals such as CMV, HSV, EBV, KSV and HPV. Immune evasion of HIV will not be within the scope of this initiative. Leader/contact:
Mostafa Nokta: Mostafa.Nokta@nih.gov