Yang is a second-year student whose project was titled “Neuromechanics of Temporomandibular Joint During Mastication.” Yang will go on to be the School’s representative at the 2027 AADOCR Dentsply/Sirona SCADA Competition.
Kim is a fourth-year student who won first place in the Predoctoral Research Day competition back in 2024. Her project is titled “Constructing a Mouse scRNA-Seq Atlas of Palatogenesis for Human Comparative Analysis.”
Held annually, Research Day celebrates the culmination of research projects from predoctoral dental students, many of whom participate in the year-long Summer Research Fellowship (SURF) program, graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, residents, faculty, and staff from the School of Dentistry.
The theme of Research Day this year was, Standing on the Shoulders of Giants – Impact-Driven Science at the UWSOD.” The Keynote Speaker was Dr. Brian Foster, the Associate Professor and Chair of the Division of Biosciences at the Ohio State University College of Dentistry.
Dr. Foster’s presentation was titled “Periodontal Tissues in Transition: Finding Mechanisms in Rare Disease Research”. In it, Dr. Foster showcased how he used insights from rare inherited disorders that disrupt cementum, periodontal ligament, and alveolar bone to uncover the biological foundations of the periodontium.
Megha Rao (‘26) and Ashley Wong (‘28) took second and third place in the Predoctoral competition, respectively. Rao’s project was titled “Comparative Evaluation of Biomimetic, Tactile and Visual properties of Endodontic Simulation Teeth Vs Natural teeth.” Wong’s project was titled “Investigating the missing heritability for Van de Woude syndrome and non-syndromic orofacial cleft.”
Dr. Azeez Fashina and Kimia Imani (‘26) took second and third place in the Graduate Trainee competition, respectively. Dr. Fashina’s project was titled “A Proposed Kinase Cascade Upstream of IRF6 in Orofacial Cleft Pathogenesis.” Imani’s was titled “Caregiver Bandwidth and Children’s Oral Health: A Proposed Qualitative Systematic Review and Research Agenda.”
Jane Soper (‘28) received the Jack Nicholls Award for her project “Differential sugar-sweetened beverage intake among Alaska Native boys and girls: a mixed-methods study.”
Tenzin Namgyal (‘27) received the RAC Travel Award for the Best SURF Paper for his project “Feasibility of Taste and Smell Screening During Routine Dental Visits.”
The award ceremony and presentations were followed by the poster session for students and faculty to view and discuss the work of their peers amongst one another, catered with food and beverage refreshments.
The Omicron Kappa Upsilon (OKU) Dental Honor Society provided cash prizes for the winners of the dental predoctoral oral presentations competition. The Seattle Section of the American Association for Dental and Craniofacial Research, and the national chapter also provide award support for the graduate trainee oral presentation award and the Research Advisory Committee Travel Award respectively. The School of Dentistry thanks all of these organizations for their support.