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Student Research Recognized by American Association of Women Dentists

July 2, 2009

Penn Dental Medicine student Maria Velasco (D'10) has been recognized with the 2009 Colgate Research Scholarship Award, sponsored by the American Association of Women Dentists (AAWD). The scholarship was presented to 10 third- and fourth-year dental students nationwide who have shown academic distinction and demonstrated excellence in research. Award applicants must be current dental students and members of the organization.

Ms. Velasco serves as President of the School's Vernon Brightman Research Society, the School's student research organization. Her primary research activities have involved a project with Dr. Sunday Akintoye, Assistant Professor of Oral Medicine, comparing the differentiation capacity into neurons of adult BMSCs derived from maxilla, mandible, and iliac crest bone. "The research suggests that maxillary and mandibular BMSCs could become neurons and potentially be used in the treatment of stroke, paresthesias, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease," notes Ms. Velasco. "It will take a long time to extrapolate this data into clinical practice, but the first steps in the process have been taken."

Award winners, who received a $500 scholarship, were announced at the AAWD 88th Annual Meeting, held June 11-13 in Hilton Head, S.C. The AAWD's mission is to be the recognized resource for connecting and enriching the diverse lives of women dentists.

Additionally, Ms. Velasco was selected to represent the School at the 45th Annual American Dental Association Dental Student's Conference on Research, held May 3-5 in Gaithersburg, Md. During the two-day full session, she presented updates on her research titled, "Disparate neuronal differentiation of Human Orofacial and Axial Bone Marrow Stromal cells: Clinical Implications" at the Paffenberger Research Center and the National Institutes of Health.

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