The oral health research community is relatively small and focused, and in the context of increasing retirements among Canada's scientists, small research communities are at greater risk. This is according to Dr. Richard Ellen, leader of a major effort to recruit the next generation of oral health researchers.
Richard Ellen |
Ellen, an oral microbiologist and president of the Canadian Association for Dental Research, is the primary investigator on a six-year CIHR strategic training initiative entitled Cell Signaling in Mucosal Inflammation and Pain. Announced in May 2002, the program is one of 14 training initiatives that fall within the research priority areas of the Institute of Infection and Immunity (III). Ellen explains the relationship between oral health and infection and immunity: |
"My colleagues and I work on dental and periodontal infections, and on how immunity to oral microorganisms protects individuals against these diseases." Ellen explains the relationship between oral health and infection and immunity: "My colleagues and I work on dental and periodontal infections, and on how immunity to oral microorganisms protects individuals against these diseases." Ellen, a professor and associate dean for Graduate and Postgraduate Studies at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Dentistry, says the program's mentors include microbiologists who study the molecular properties of pathogenic oral bacteria, including exogenous, opportunistic, and indigenous oral pathogens. And as the program's title suggests, "We also have a strong training component in the cell signals that regulate innate immunity, which is so important in host-parasite interactions on mucosal surfaces," says Ellen. Additional elements of the training program are inflammation and pain, reflecting its lead sponsors: the CIHR Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis and The Arthritis Society of Canada. The program is also supported by the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and the CIHR Institutes of Circulatory and Respiratory Health; Health Services and Policy Research; Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes; and Infection and Immunity.
To increase their chances of success in the training competition, Ellen and his team focused on areas where they could use innovation to be effective. The team saw the challenges of recruiting trainees and keeping a far-flung network of collaborators connected as major issues. So they designed a demonstration website up front, and included both the URL and a CD version in their application. In the long term, it will be both a place to do business and to promote the team's research. "It will also show off our trainees, and hopefully help them land meaningful jobs," says Ellen.
From left: Richard Ellen, Director, Strategic Training Program; Dennis Cvitkovitch, Canada Research Chair and Cellsignals mentor; Lori Burrows, collaborator, head of Hospital for Sick Children Centre for Biofilms and Biomaterials Infections; graduate students: Julianne Kus, Andre Paes, Dilani Senadheera, Mohsen Amin, and Peyman Kalichi. |
Ellen and his team now find themselves the only doctoral research training program in Canada that fuses medicine and dentistry, areas that have traditionally been discrete from the training perspective, and also adds a measure of biomedical engineering. Oral health issues cross the divide between medicine and dentistry, both in terms of the impact of oral infection and immunity on general health, and in terms of the parallels in pathogenic mechanisms that can be drawn between inflammatory conditions in the mouth and elsewhere in the body. For example, periodontitis, oral mucositis and burning mouth syndrome have some symptoms and pathogenic characteristics that are comparable to mucosal inflammatory conditions of the gastrointestinal, respiratory, and genito-urinary tracts, as well as the soft tissues adjacent to arthritic joints. These conditions become increasingly common and debilitating with age. As the team's proposal highlights, Canada's population is aging and the need to understand chronic disease is increasing.
"Transdisciplinary" is an integral theme of CIHR's strategic training initiatives, and one Ellen fully believes in. He gives the example of doctoral candidate Peter Ceponis, who studies the molecular biology of gastro-intestinal infections at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ont. Ellen says that in the training program, Ceponis will gain an appreciation for the study of inflammation and pain from various perspectives, including clinical research, population studies and translational research. For his part, Ceponis was intrigued by the program's interdisciplinary nature. "My progress to date has really depended on collaboration and interaction," he says, adding that the opportunity to join a program that would promote those things appealed to him. Ceponis sees these CIHR strategic training initiatives as having the potential to change the way his generation of scientists does research. "When you have the chance to be interactive and collaborative in research . from a personal standpoint, it increases my enthusiasm and excitement for research," he says. He believes in turn, that transdisciplinary attitudes should foster a stronger interest in research among graduates of the program.
The program is supported by 18 mentors including six Canada Research Chairs-from biomedical science to protein engineering to clinical epidemiology and health services research-all well supported by their own grants, ensuring that the program has the operating funds to engage the trainees in an optimum environment. "That's important, because if you want to build research capacity for the next generation, trainees have to be exposed to scientists who are at the top of their game," says Ellen. Trainees will also have the opportunity to gain international experience and exposure with the program's many international collaborators, based in Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Israel and the United States.
Of the 18 mentors, Ellen points out that six are within a decade of retirement. So the team included in its application a plan for sustainability: a "Train-the-Mentors" program initially composed of six up-and-coming young scientists who are already co-supervising trainees and serving as "understudies" to the senior mentors. Ellen says the Train-the-Mentors program was a success with the reviewers. "They said it was innovative and unique, and it became another selling point."
With CIHR funds alone, the program can fully support 12 students, says Ellen. Matching funds and "in kind" contributions have increased that to the 16 currently enrolled. With additional contributions from future partner agencies and industries, the program has the capacity for up to 25 trainees. But, says Ellen, the team's jump-start is challenged by the fact that the number of operational CIHR strategic training initiatives went from zero to 51 in only a month. The programs need students, and although the word is spreading, the level of awareness was initially low. Ellen has this to say to any potential applicants: "We are interested in getting top, research-oriented students who are aiming for a full-time career in health research and are interested in cell signaling, inflammation and pain. We are willing to accommodate you and make the program flexible to your needs."
For tips on putting together a successful training program application, visit the Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis website and check the IMHA Funding page for "Do's and don'ts for the applicants to the training grant program".
