UNMC Periodontics Alumni News

Inaugural Tussing-Kaldahl Scholar Award

Thomas M. Petro, PhD, professor, and Amy C. Killeen, DDS, MS, associate professor, received the inaugural Tussing-Kaldahl Scholar Award. The award supports new and ongoing basic, clinical and translational research projects centered on understanding immunity/inflammation within the oral mucosa and periodontium. The awarded projects involve periodontal residents and seek to develop compelling pilot data for National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant applications.

The Tussing-Kaldahl Scholar Award honors two faculty members in the UNMC Department of Surgical Specialties – Gerald J. Tussing, DDS, MSD, professor, and Wayne B. Kaldahl, DDS, professor – who have a long history of creating clinically relevant projects that help form what we know about periodontology. Drs. Tussing and Kaldahl have provided guidance to UNMC periodontal residents for nearly 60 years. The award is funded by generous donations from former periodontal residents as tokens of their appreciation to Drs. Tussing and Kaldahl for their impact on their education.

The focus of the current study is examining post-extraction wound healing through single-cell RNA sequencing. By taking soft tissue samples around posterior extraction sites and processing through emerging sc-RNA sequencing technology, it is possible to see which genes are being up- or down-regulated in specific cells as the wound heals. Various recent UNMC pilot studies within the graduate periodontal residency have yielded sufficient data to show a difference in the gene expression of pro/anti-inflammatory cytokines between older and younger patients. 

The Tussing-Kaldahl Scholar funding will further this genetic data bank by including more patients in the study and comparing the sc-RNA sequencing results to a larger set of wound fluid samples and CBCT radiographs taken from additional patients in similar extraction therapy. Ultimately, this research effort will reveal more about how wound healing differs at the genetic and biomarker level between old and young patients. This knowledge could lead to a better understanding of how to treat patients most efficiently and what to expect with both soft and hard tissue outcomes. The results of this study will be used to develop an NIH RO1 grant application within the next two years.

Currently, the research study is supporting four periodontal residents as they work to obtain their master's degrees. The faculty and residents of the graduate periodontal program are extremely grateful for the support of the alumni for the funding that is allowing them to conduct such advanced and unprecedented research.