The American Association for Dental Research (AADR) named Leena Palomo, assistant professor in the Department of Periodontics in the School of Dental Medicine, as the recipient of the 2012 AADR William B. Clark Fellowship in Clinical Research. This award will be presented at the AADR Annual Meeting & Exhibition in Tampa, Fla., March 24.
Palomo’s research interest is the effect of bisphophonates on the periodontium in postmenopausal women. The Clark Fellowship will allow her to gain expertise using multiplex ELISA testing for serum inflammatory cytokines and “checkerboard” DNA-DNA hybridization techniques.
Palomo plans to collect subgingival biofilm and crevicular fluid samples from a population of otherwise healthy postmenopausal women diagnosed with periodontitis who are using bisphosphonate therapy for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis and samples from demographically matched postmenopausal women who do not use such therapy. Microbial species and cytokine response between the two groups will be compared.
The AADR William B. Clark Fellowship was established in memory of William B. Clark and is supported by P&G Professional Oral Health, Crest Oral-B. The award recognizes investigators carrying out clinical research in periodontology.