Student Research Day
2022 Student Research Day, The Center for the Arts, UB North Campus
Each year, all students presenting their research at this event benefit from interaction with a panel of faculty judges. This experience of talking with the judges and receiving advice is designed to help students advance their careers in research.
Date: Thursday, March 9, 2023
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Location: Center for the Arts, North Campus
Program
| 8:30-9:00 | Poster setup for all presenters |
| 9:00-11:00 | Poster judging |
| 12:00-1:00 | Keynote address by Dr. Jennifer Webster-Cyriaque |
| **Attendance is MANDATORY for all DDS students** | |
| If you cannot attend, please contact Dr. Gina Bellavia | |
| 1:00-3:00 | Poster viewing, networking, and refreshments |
| 3:00 | Award announcements |
| 3:30 | Closing |
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Jennifer Webster-Cyriaque, deputy director NIDCR
A career journey beginning at UB and science along the way: Opportunities and lessons learned
Jennifer Webster-Cyriaque began her studies in dentistry at the University of Buffalo. Seminal studies by Webster-Cyriaque’s group contribute to our understanding of virus/host interactions that govern the development of oral disease and malignancy. Against dogma, she showed oral EBV permissive infection was a combination of lytic and transforming infection. She provided the first demonstration of oral KSHV replication and described oral iatrogenic Kaposi’s development. Her epidemiologic, in silico, and molecular studies show that pathogenic microbiomes promote tumor-viral reactivation, pathogenesis, and malignancy as bacteria drive needed signaling and epigenetic modifications. Her group determined signatures common to tumor-viral integration using comprehensive informatics meta-analysis; integration, critical to cancer development, was previously not well understood. She was among the first to describe HPV in non-smoker non-drinker cancers and demonstrated the potential for oral transmission among cancer harboring couples. She described a unique spectrum of HPV in the mouth vs genitalia, helped determine the success of HPV vaccination in HIV, and describe HPV-related consequences of HIV immune reconstitution in trials. She determined that BKV is the likely etiologic agent of HIV-related salivary gland disease (HIVSGD). Important to transmission and HIVSGD development, she demonstrated BKV permissive salivary gland infection and characterized oral-tropic substrains. Targeted therapeutics, tested in vitro, allowed movement to clinical trials providing HIVSGD treatment options. She has characterized periodontitis in the context of health and HIV. Her studies demonstrate that dental treatment of pathogenic oral microbiomes influence systemic inflammation and HIV outcomes. This work underlies the inclusion of dentistry in current HIV eradication efforts. After joining NIDCR at NIH, as deputy director her focus has been on programmatic opportunities for the dental community, on oral health disparities, translation and training. Opportunities for NIDCR engagement will be shared.
