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Research Fellowship: Year Four in Review

 Dentsply Sirona logoOver the past four years, Dr. Annie Shrestha has made significant progress on her project, entitled “Immune Dysbiosis in Diabetes and Apical Periodontitis – Role of Cell Microenvironment,” aimed at elucidating the role of immune dysbiosis in adaptive immune cells in the development of apical periodontitis and increasing understanding of how diabetes mellitus influences this process. As the Dentsply Sirona Research Fellow her goals are to contribute to the scholarship of endodontics and harness the extramural resources necessary to advance the specialty. While Dr. Shrestha works tirelessly to serve endodontics, the Foundation with corporate support from Dentsply Sirona has been pleased to create a pipeline to support her to become an impactful and independent clinician-scientist. In addition to research support, the fellowship also focuses on career development.

The Foundation is please to recognize Dr. Shrestha’s milestones and successes during her fourth year.

Publications

Accepted:

  1. Annie Shrestha*, Yi Zhu, Aiman Ali, High Fat Diet Influences Dendritic Cells and T Cells Infiltration in Apical Periodontitis in Mice, Journal of Endodontics.
  2. Zhu, C. Tao, C. Goh, A. Shrestha*. Innovative Biomaterials for the Treatment of Periodontal Disease. Frontiers in Dental Medicine. Research Topics: Rising Stars in Dental Materials. 10.3389/fdmed.2023.1163562.
  3. Ghaffari, A. Kishen, A. Shrestha*. Endocytic internalization mechanism of bioactive antibacterial nanoparticles by fibroblasts, Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology. Volume 15, June 2023, 100179.
  4. Zhu, D. Winer, C. Goh, A. Shrestha*. Injectable thermosensitive hydrogel to modulate tolerogenic dendritic cells under hyperglycemic condition. Biomaterials Science journal – The Royal Society of Chemistry 2023, DOI: 10.1039/D2BM01881K.

Conference Presentations/Publications

Invited Presentations:

  1. Challenges associated with “I prefer to save it”. A. Shrestha and G. Malkhassian. Update in Dentistry. Aging Gracefully: Enhancing Dental Care for Older Adults. October 20, 2023. Toronto. Canada.
  2. Potential of Immunotherapy in apical periodontitis with systemic diseases. Hong Kong Endodontic Society. October 10, 2023. Hong Kong, Republic of China.
  3. Endodontic Infection and Immunomodulation. North American Key Opinion Leaders Forum (Dentsply Sirona), July 27, 2023. North Carolina, Charlotte, USA.
  4. Regenerative Endodontics: What’s New? Hong Kong University Endodontic Graduate Program. June 29, 2023.

Student Presentations:

  • Zhu, C. Goh, A. Shrestha. The immunomodulatory mechanism of a chitosan-based composite hydrogel on dendritic cells under hyperglycemia. 2024 IADR/AADOCR/CADR Annual Meeting. March 2024. New Orleans, USA.
  • Wu, Y. Zhu, A. Shrestha. Mechanism of Dendritic Cells Modulations by Resveratrol and Resolvin-D1. 2024. IADR/AADOCR/CADR Annual Meeting. March 2024. New Orleans, USA.

Student Awards:

  • IADR Periodontal Research Group Past Presidents’ Travel Award, Zhu, C. Goh, A. Shrestha*. Modulating dendritic cells using thermosensitive hydrogel under hyperglycemia. Annual Meeting of the IADR/LAR General Session, June 21, 2023 (Oral Interactive Session). Bogota, Columbia.
  • CADR-NCOHR Student Research Award – Senior Basic Scientist Category. Yi Zhu (PhD candidate) selected to present at the 2024 IADR/AADOCR/CADR Annual Meeting in New Orleans in March 2024.
  • CADR-NCOHR Student Research Award – Junior Scientist Category. Jiaqi Wu (Summer student 2023) selected to present her research at the 2024 IADR/AADOCR/CADR Annual Meeting in New Orleans in March 2024.

Final Year (2024) Fellowship Goals

  • 2024 Project Grant, NIH RO3 – submission in preparation
  • 2024 Project Grant Program, Canadian Institute of Health Research (Fall 2024)
  • Discover Grant Program, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada  – submitted