The second-year PhD student in oral biology at the Dr. Gerald Niznick College of Dentistry is currently focused on interviewing non-dental primary care providers about their use of the Canadian Caries Risk Assessment Tool.

The tool was created by her supervisor, Dr. Bob Schroth, a professor of preventive dental science at UM’s dental school, to help doctors, daycare workers, dieticians and social workers identify whether a child under six years old is at risk of tooth decay.

Olatosi, who completed her dentistry degree and a master’s in public health at the University of Lagos in Nigeria, has been hearing positive feedback from the non-dental primary care providers she’s interviewed so far. She said they see the tool is needed because tooth decay is endemic in children in underserved communities, and they are happy that the tool is simple and easy to use.

UM Today sat down with Olatosi to learn about what motivates her and her experience as a PhD student at UM. 

What drew you to the field of oral biology?

My background is in pediatric dentistry and oral biology is the foundation for dentistry. Everything you do in dentistry starts with oral biology – from the cells to tooth decay, it’s all embedded in oral biology. I’ve always had a passion for promoting oral health care, especially to underserved populations.

You won the People’s Choice Award at this year’s UM Three Minute Thesis (3MT) final. What was it like to win and what did you learn from participating in the 3MT competition?

I’m glad I participated in 3MT because it helped give my research a platform. It helped give a voice to what I’m doing and what we’re doing in our lab. The head of my department, Dr. James Gilchrist, encouraged me to take part and said, ‘I think you can do this.’ I didn’t think I could. Participating in 3MT has motivated me to say, ‘There’s nothing you put your mind to that you cannot do.’ The format of the competition challenged me in an exciting manner and boosted my public speaking skills.   

You recently received $17,850 in funding from Research Manitoba for a project titled Exploring strategies for implementing a culturally informed caries risk assessment tool used by non-dental primary care providers for young First Nations and Métis children in Manitoba, Canada. What are your thoughts on receiving this funding?

It’s so amazing. One of the things I love about the University of Manitoba is that there are so many opportunities for scholarships and funding. There is so much support, and being an international student, this is going to go a long way for me. Apart from the Research Manitoba funding, I also received the University of Manitoba Graduate Student Association Award ($16,000) and the Canadian Health Measure Survey Oral Health Component Trainee award in 2022. These awards have given me a lot of motivation to continue to work hard.

What else motivates you to do the work you do?

I’ve always had a passion to care for children. It’s always been what I love to do. Children sometimes go through pain because of their teeth and parents may not know the severity of pain they’re going through. I want to raise awareness that this problem is preventable. Children don’t deserve to be in pain. We want kids to have a healthy smile for life.

Why did you choose UM for your PhD?

The type of research I was interested in doing is happening at the University of Manitoba, which is early childhood oral health. The University of Manitoba has one of the globally-renowned experts, Dr. Robert Schroth, who is well cited and highly visible in the scientific community. I was citing him before joining his lab when I was doing my master’s. I wanted to be trained by him.

What has been most rewarding during your time at UM?

Being part of 3MT and being voted the People’s Choice Award winner was really rewarding. Receiving the Research Manitoba award and being the recipient of the University of Manitoba Graduate Students Association Award was amazing. Also, It’s not only about academics. I’ve been involved in community work with the Healthy Smile Happy Child program. I’ve been going to schools and community events promoting child oral health and giving back to the community. Also, I currently serve as one of the event executives of the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences Women in Science: Development, Outreach and Mentorship (WISDOM) trainee program and that has been rewarding. I’m able to be part of this community and give back. I’m also currently the oral biology student councilor. There are a lot of platforms if you want to do something at UM.

What are your plans once you finish your PhD?

My plan is to remain in academia, research and continue to promote protocols and guidelines that will enable significant improvement in the prevention of dental caries for children, especially in underserved communities in Canada and globally. I wish to thank my supervisor Dr. Robert Schroth, Dr. James Gilchrist, Dr. Prashen Chelikani, Dr. Raj Bhullar, my advisory committee, Erin Langford, members of Schroth Lab and dean of the Dr. Gerald Niznick College of Dentistry Dr. Anastasia Kelekis-Cholakis for their continuous support.

This Q&A is part of a series on UM Today this summer featuring Rady Faculty of Health Sciences graduate students. You can find more grad student profiles here: #Radygradstudents.

A total of more than $12 million was awarded in the form of project and bridge grants, with study durations ranging from one to five years.

“Congratulations to all the dedicated UM researchers who were successful in this Spring 2021 funding competition,” said UM Vice-President (Research and International) Dr. Digvir Jayas.

“These professors have shown leadership in their fields and are advancing knowledge in several important areas of Indigenous health, as well as in illnesses such as kidney disease, heart disease, HIV, diabetes, cancer and psychiatric disorders.”

The UM project that received the largest grant, more than $1.9 million over five years, is titled Qanuinngitsiarutiksait.2: Developing tools for the wellness and safety of Inuit.

DR. JOSEE LAVOIE

Led by Dr. Josée Lavoie, professor of community health sciences and director of Ongomiizwin Research, the project builds on a previous study of service use by the thousands of Inuit from Nunavut who come to Manitoba to access services.

The new study will focus on how Inuit concepts of wellness can be used to create healing programs in Winnipeg that reflect Inuit values. The researchers plan to develop and implement several programs, such as one tailored to the needs of Inuit families involved with Child and Family Services.

A five-year grant of more than $1.4 million was awarded to the project Oral microbiome and caries risk in young First Nations and Métis children in Manitoba.

DR. ROBERT SCHROTH

A team led by Dr. Robert Schroth, professor of preventive dental science in the Dr. Gerald Niznick College of Dentistry and researcher with the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM), will examine the dental microbiome that is associated with the severe form of baby-tooth decay that affects many First Nations and Métis preschoolers.

The aim is to understand why only some dental microorganisms cause tooth decay, and the environmental factors that may influence this process.

Here’s a look at the other funded studies and lead investigators. More information on the studies and research teams is available here.

Dr. Marissa Becker, associate professor, medical microbiology & infectious diseases, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $200,000 (two years)

Becker’s team will study sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBI) among military personnel in Ukraine, examining how they contribute to broader STBBI epidemics amid the armed conflict in that country.

Dr. David Collister, assistant professor, internal medicine, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $321,300 (three years)

Collister seeks to determine which uremic toxins are responsible for individual disease symptoms in advanced chronic kidney disease, and which symptoms respond to dialysis. The findings will inform dialysis decision-making.

Dr. Kevin Coombs, professor, medical microbiology & infectious diseases, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $100,000 (one year)

Coombs will examine human cells’ susceptibility to the Zika virus, which is transmitted by a mosquito that is becoming known in Canada. He aims to understand how cellular genes and proteins work to allow or inhibit Zika growth.

Dr. Sanjiv Dhingra, associate professor, physiology & pathophysiology, Max Rady College of Medicine; principal investigator, Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, St. Boniface Hospital Research Centre

Grant: $960,076 (five years)

Dhingra’s study relates to the potential of using transplanted stem cells from healthy donors to treat heart disease. He will investigate why transplanted stem cells are ultimately rejected by the host’s immune system, and how to prevent this.

Dr. Vernon Dolinsky, associate professor, pharmacology & therapeutics, Max Rady College of Medicine; researcher, CHRIM

Grant: $822,376 (five years)

Dolinsky’s team has found that the offspring of mothers who had gestational diabetes are at risk of later heart failure. His study will investigate the role of a cellular protein that could prevent damage to the heart and allow it to pump better.

Dr. Krista Hardy, assistant professor, surgery, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $470,475 (four years)

Hardy aims to better understand the experiences of Indigenous patients who undergo bariatric surgery in Manitoba as a treatment for obesity. Her project will incorporate and assess Indigenous healing and wellness practices in bariatric surgery care.

Dr. Richard Keijzer, professor, surgery, Max Rady College of Medicine; researcher, CHRIM

Grant: $233,324 (three years)

Keijzer’s team has created a database of more than 750 Manitobans who were born with a congenital anomaly that required surgery at birth. By linking this to population data, the team will conduct a follow-up study of the patients’ medical, educational and socio-economic outcomes.

Grant: $749,700 (five years)

Keijzer will also lead an international team of experts on congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) to determine the role of circular RNAs in these infants’ abnormal lung development. The results will help to better predict outcomes in babies with CDH.

Dr. Dylan MacKay, assistant professor, community health sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $100,000 (one year)

MacKay will enrol patients with chronic kidney disease in a one-year, randomized study comparing methods of reducing dietary acid. Half the patients will take baking soda pills, while the other half will have fruits and vegetables delivered to them to reduce acid through diet.

Dr. Lyle McKinnon, associate professor, medical microbiology & infectious diseases, Max Rady College of Medicine; researcher, CHRIM

Grant: $300,000 (three years)

McKinnon’s team has previously found that vaginal inflammation increases a woman’s risk of becoming HIV-infected if exposed. His study focuses on regulatory T cells and their potential to control female genital inflammation as an HIV prevention strategy.

Dr. James Nagy, professor, physiology & pathophysiology, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $742,050 (five years)

Nagy’s study builds on his previous research on how nerve cells in the brain communicate at electrical synapses, how protein components function in this transmission, and how malfunctioning of these mechanisms contributes to neurological disorders.

Dr. Marcus Ng, associate professor, internal medicine, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $548,890 (five years)

Ng will analyze data from patients with epilepsy to compare the brain zone of epileptic activity during rapid eye movement sleep, other stages of sleep, and wakefulness. Better mapping of where seizures arise could allow more patients to undergo life-changing neurosurgery.

Dr. Tabrez Siddiqui, associate professor, physiology & pathophysiology, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $983,026 (five years)

Siddiqui will investigate, in mice, how a type of altered biochemical signaling affects the brain, producing deficits such as those in autism and schizophrenia. The goal is to increase understanding of neuropsychiatric disorders so that drug targets can be identified.

Dr. Jörg Stetefeld, professor, biochemistry, Faculty of Science; Canada Research Chair in structural biology and biophysics

Grant: $742,050 (five years)

Stetefeld will pursue a molecular study of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), a protein involved in cancerous tumor development and tissue fibrosis. He aims to develop new therapeutic targets based on understanding the role of CTGF.

Dr. Julia Uhanova, associate professor, internal medicine, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $573,751 (two years)

Uhanova will explore whether adherence to a traditional First Nations land-based diet decreases the severity of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, an aggressive form of fatty liver disease. This inflammatory disease has a high prevalence among First Nations.

Dr. Jude Uzonna, professor, immunology, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $990,676 (five years)

Uzonna’s study focuses on how the body maintains immunity after recovery from leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease. Understanding factors that regulate the antigen-specific memory response to the disease will aid progress toward a vaccine.

Dr. Kristy Wittmeier, associate professor, pediatrics & child health, Max Rady College of Medicine; researcher, CHRIM

Grant: $240,976 (two years)

Building on her previous research, Wittmeier will study knowledge-sharing networks in child development and rehabilitation in Canada. Her team will make recommendations to improve these networks to better serve children’s needs.

April is oral-health month, the perfect time to celebrate your dental health.

Unfortunately, many Manitobans face oral-health challenges, including those with limited incomes, those living in rural and remote regions and Canadian indigenous peoples.

Another group recognized as having considerable dental needs are newcomers to Canada.

This is especially true for young refugee children.

A considerable proportion of these children are refugees with dental problems, predominantly tooth decay, who have come to Canada never having received any dental care.

Every week in my part-time clinical practice at Access Downtown and Mount Carmel Clinic, I care for children presenting with advanced tooth decay.

These children often require fillings and extractions, as well as preventive care such as cleanings and topical fluoride treatments.

Caring for this population is rewarding, but comes with some challenges, including their unfamiliarity with the dental care system, lack of finances and language barriers.

The Interim Federal Health Program provides some emergency dental care for children and adults.

And, fortunately, there are several community-based dental clinics that provide dental services at reduced cost.

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority’s language access interpreters also provide an essential role, making dental visits for families without English-language skills easier.

While tooth decay is a preventable disease, there is growing evidence newcomer children have higher rates of early childhood tooth decay and lower rates of dental visits than Canadian-born children do.

A recent survey revealed tooth decay is very common among refugee and immigrant children new to Winnipeg, with about 45.5 per cent having early childhood tooth decay and nearly one in three having a more severe form of tooth decay.

The Healthy Smile Happy Child initiative was established by a partnership of agencies, including the WRHA and the University of Manitoba, to promote early-childhood oral health and prevent tooth decay among young children.

In 2015, the initiative recognized the oral health needs of young newcomer children and developed the Caring for Children’s Teeth Newcomer Resource, which can be found at wfp.to/E9c.

While this resource was developed for newcomers with minimal or no English literacy, the oral-health messages are applicable to all children and families in Manitoba.

The key messages include:

1) Look in your child’s mouth for signs of tooth decay. Lift your child’s lip regularly to see if the teeth are healthy and clean.

2) Brush your child’s teeth twice every day (morning and bedtime). Children under three years old should use a rice-sized amount of fluoride toothpaste, while children three and older can use a pea-sized amount of fluoride toothpaste.

3) Eat food that is good for your teeth. Limit the amount of unhealthy snacks and sugary drinks.

4) Start taking your child to the dentist before they are one year old.

5) Like your smile. Baby teeth are important and contribute to overall health and well-being for children.

Many refugees and newcomers are cared for by dentists in private practice.

However, there are a number of community-based dental clinics within Winnipeg that provide essential dental care to these families.

Information on these clinics can be found online.

These clinics include:

• Access Downtown, 640 Main St. (204-940-3816)

• Deer Lodge Centre Dental Clinic, 2109 Portage Ave. (204-831-2157)

• Mount Carmel Clinic, 886 Main St. (204-586-1659)

• SMILE plus program at Machray School, 320 Mountain Ave. (204-940-2090)

Connecting refugee children in Canada with a dental office is a great way to ensure they receive needed treatment and preventive care that will set them on a path toward a lifetime of good oral health.

The Manitoba Chemosensory Biology Research Group (MCSB) launched this past summer with a focus on the emerging field of chemosensation. A diverse group of researchers is exploring molecular, chemical and sensory biology towards the discovery of novel molecules that can alter or modify human chemical senses. The potential for the group is enormous in what is seen as a burgeoning area of research.

“It is an up and coming area,” said Dr. Prashen Chelikani, director, MCSB group and graduate chair in the College of Dentistry’s department of oral biology. “The work we are doing is multi-disciplinary and fairly well focused. When it comes to taste chemosensation, we are the only group in Canada right now.”

The four thrust areas of MCSB – taste, bacterial chemosensation, signal transduction and clinical applications of the science – cover virtually all areas of the human chemosensory experience. Potential applications from their research run the gamut from the food industry to clinical applications in myriad areas of health care.

“Clinical, pharmacology, consumer products, all those areas,” Chelikani said. “We’re looking at research on taste receptor biology, taste disorders, food chemistry, novel taste blockers and taste modifiers.”

Comprised of eight scientists from diverse disciplines across the University of Manitoba, the group targets research grants that fit with their areas of expertise. For the past several years now and in collaboration with Dr. Rotimi Aluko (dept. of human nutritional sciences), Chelikani’s lab has focused on developing taste modifiers. This area has already drawn immense interest from the food industry.

The group’s work however, goes well beyond consumer products. Microbiologists Drs. Ayush Kumar and Kangmin Duan are investigating how bacteria communicate with each other and with a host cell, a major factor in bacterial infections.

“We want to understand the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance and virulence in bacteria like Pseudomonas aeruginosa,” Kumar explained. “This organism is one of the most common pathogens causing lung infections in Cystic Fibrosis patients. Our role in the group is to understand how it may interact with the host defense mechanisms and if this interaction is linked to its antibiotic resistance.”

Collaborative research within MCSB is investigating the interactions between bacterial Acyl-Homoserine Lactones (AHL )signal molecules and human airway cells. The phenomenon that bitter taste receptors on lung epithelial cells serve as bacterial AHL receptors is being explored.

Dr. Robert Schroth, associate professor, Colleges of Dentistry, is interested in looking at the association between caries and taste in children and adolescents.

“This partnership will help to understand the role that taste may have in determining a child’s risk for developing caries (cavities), including early childhood caries,” he said.

To spur their research, members of the group review calls for research projects that dovetail into their respective areas of expertise. “When we apply for grants, we look at our own research and how we can mutually complement our expertise to strengthen the proposal,” Chelikani said, noting competition is often fierce for grant funding.

“The climate for peer–reviewed granting funding is very tough right now. You’re looking at 10 to 15 per cent success, depending on what you are applying for. In that scenario, collaboration is essential.”

Each member of the team has already enjoyed considerable success in their respective fields. The group is optimistic that banding together under the MCSB banner can better leverage future opportunities.

“We know we are focused and most of our principle investigators have good track records and significant, multi–year grants,” Chelikani said, adding it usually takes up to five years for a research group to determine how well it is performing. “The idea is for this group to become a Canadian Centre for Chemosensory Research down the road.”

The new multi-disciplinary Manitoba Chemosensory Biology Research Group builds on the College of Dentistry’s successful International Centre for Oral-Systemic Health (ICOSH), launched in 2008, and also envisioned as a nucleus for collaboration and innovation.

“ICOSH has received multiple international awards and recognition along with substantial government and private funding so we already know this model works.  Dr. Chelikani is uniquely qualified to lead this new group and I have no doubt that it will be extremely successful,” said Dr. Anthony M. Iacopino, Dean, College of Dentistry, Faculty of Health Sciences.