here is a conversation I had with Dr. Martha Somerman, director of the
National Institute of dental and craniofacial research good morning Dr.
Somerman and thank you very much for coming and taking time off your busy
schedule to answer some questions for our readership at the Journal of the
American Dental Association I would like to start to ask you a question about
where NIDCR are right now could you highlight some trans translational
research project presently sponsored by NIDCR that could directly help
practitioner and benefit patients sure that's a very interesting question and
maybe i would take a moment to bring that up back a little bit so what NIDCR
funds is a basic research translational and clinical where it's really very very
important to have that basic research as the foundation of where to move to the
translational clinical having said that there are several examples and I their
numerous ones in terms of the direct and also indirect that eventually becomes
direct so for example in the commentary that the leader the readership will be
involved with is relates to one example was osteonecrosis of the draw and here's
an example where the practitioners were the first to recognize that there was
something related to drugs that enter anti result of drugs and increased
incidence of osteonecrosis of the jaw and by gathering groups together
practitioners clearly able to demonstrate that there was a correlation
although it's minimal and these drugs are very important that there were that
there was a correlation between osteonecrosis of the jaw and some of
these anti result of drugs what that then enabled us to do was go back to the
basic science level to address the mechanism which is so critical another
example which really tags on to that it means related to the practice-based
research networks where again we're asking questions that are in the real
world with a dentist apposing the questions of needing more
immediate or direct answers for our patients which is what we're all about
is the care of the patients and so a wonderful example is the tooth cracked
program the tooth cracked study where this is a program of evaluating patients
that are symptomatic and asymptomatic over a four-year period we're trying to
establish when these cracks become symptomatic and also by a variety of
follow-ups of being able to identify risk factors for susceptibility and
long-term treatments another wonderful example is a small business program
where frequently we are involved in funding the basic science and perhaps
not moving into small business but at other times moving from this the basic
science actually to the clinical level and clinical trials into a development
of the products a wonderful example here relates to the area of wound healing
we're at the clinical we're at the basic science level the researchers developed
an animal model where they recognize that if they took away a specific gene
these animals wouldn't heal recognizing that this factor or molecule was
important and involved in wound healing subsequently that same group of
researchers formed a company this was also funded by NIDCR in terms of a small
business program involvement and we're hoping to have that move in through this
company that we're sponsoring that we're funding into clinical trials so those
are just a few of the many many examples that we have thank you you mentioned
your commentary in our February issue of the journal of american dental
association and in there you say NIDCR's aim is to make faster progress in
improving oral health by integrating the domains of Dentistry and research could
you please elaborate on this point for us what we do is
a very good job as researchers of the disseminating information between each
other through meetings through collaborative efforts through
publications and journals but frequently those are not the journals that are read
by practitioners or very few practitioners and therefore an area that
needs more focus and emphasis relates to getting the information from the
practitioners they see millions of patients and through those millions of
patients that they see they recognize situations that perhaps are different
with individuals of patients respond differently than others and what we need
at NIDCR is to get that information from the practitioners back to the research
arena to address research questions related to their new findings and new
areas of exploration together so we really need the practitioners involved
at all levels of what we're doing thank you and my last question trying to look
a little bit into the future I could you envision what NIDCR might actually fund
10-15 years from now what would a lovely question and one that we all like to we
enjoy answering but you never know where we're going but it's clear with the
exponential growth in tools and technologies and with the area of
genetics genomics and precision medicine that it's no longer one gene one protein
it's no longer one researcher in a silo lab so in terms of the future it's going
to be much more multidisciplinary in what we fund and for a wonderful example
of this relates to the intersection of immunology and almost everything but let
me give you an example in terms of the microbiome project of recognizing that
the the bacteria associated with all parts of a body
and how they interact with the immune system really sets up our health or
disease our immune response an example of the immunological logical advances is
in the area of cancers now where we're now recognizing the importance and
significance of regulating of the immune system in cancers and in fact targeting
targeting drugs in this area another wonderful example is in the area of
health disparities where we can no longer work in silos in addressing the
gaps in health disparities and of course as well our populations are living
longer of moving this into the adult arena as well in addressing health
disparities so I could see a huge vast of areas of arenas that are
multidisciplinary that will be enhanced in the future as we move forward in
terms of the research projects in areas so much of the research may be similar
themes but much more all hands on board and this will include the practitioners
we must go back to the practitioners and have them involved in the basic research
side of this as well Dr. Somerman thank you very much for taking your time to
answer these questions we really appreciate it thank you very much thank
you I am delighted and honored to be here