AAP Announces First Winner of Sunstar Innovation Grant
17 May 2017
The winner is Dr. Yvonne L. Kapila of the University of California, San Francisco – School of Dentistry.
Her research entitled “Natural Bacteriocins as Pre/Pro-Biotics to Promote Oral Health and Prevent Periodontal Disease” is in naturally occurring bacteriocins that improve oral health and prevent oral disease. It may develop the foundational knowledge that will help guide the potential use of pre/probiotics containing nisin or nisin-producing bacteria in promoting the maintenance of a healthy oral microbiome and preventing the formation of a pathogenic microbiome associated with periodontal disease.
Below is the press release on this achievement:
AAP Announces First Winner of SUNSTAR Innovation Grant
Four additional grants to be awarded over the next two years
SCHAUMBURG, ILLINOIS, May 16, 2017— SUNSTAR announced today that the American Academy of Periodontology (AAP) has selected Yvonne Kapila, DDS, PhD as the first winner of the SUNSTAR Innovation Grant. Dr. Kapila is professor and vice chair of the Division of Periodontology in the Department of Orofacial Sciences at the UCSF School of Dentistry.
In October 2016, SUNSTAR announced that it had pledged $250,000 to the AAP to fund the SUNSTAR Innovation Grant for the 2017-2019 period. Grant applications, which must be from AAP members and will be administered by the AAP Research Submissions Committee, will be evaluated based on the extent to which they address the following priorities or related areas:
- Innovative treatments and research that would serve to alleviate the high burden of periodontitis on the U.S. population.
- Novel, interdisciplinary team approaches to treating patients with periodontal disease that focus efforts on preserving the patient’s natural dentition, particularly among patients at risk.
- Novel approaches to achieve patient compliance with oral hygiene instruction/treatment plans using modern, evidence-based diagnostics and modern patient education tools both during and between dental visits.
The title of Dr. Kapila’s research paper that will be funded by the grant is “Natural Bacteriocins as Pre/Pro-Biotics to Promote Oral Health and Prevent Periodontal Disease.” She will present her research at the AAP’s 2017 Annual Meeting in Boston September 9-12, 2017. “The AAP could not have selected a more deserving recipient of the first SUNSTAR Innovation Grant,” said Aaron Pfarrer, Senior Director, Professional Relations. “We look forward to Dr. Kapila’s presentation and the impact her research will have on the prevention of periodontal disease.”
According to AAP President Terrence J. Griffin, DMD, “Dr. Kapila’s research, which will focus on the role of nisin and nisin-producing bacteria in maintaining oral health, clearly reflects the type of innovative thinking the SUNSTAR Innovation Grant is intended to reward.” He added, “We are very grateful to SUNSTAR for funding not only this highly promising research, but four additional research projects over the next two years.”
Two additional SUNSTAR Innovation Grants will be awarded in 2018, and three more in 2019. Applications for the two 2018 grants will be accepted in fall 2017, and the two winners will be announced in early 2018. For more information, visit https://www.perio.org/members/grants.