24 April 2026

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Students, Faculty Turn Spotlight on Penn Dental Research at 2026 IADR/AADOCR/CADR General Session

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Penn Dental Medicine students and faculty were featured prominently at the 2026 IADR/AADOCR/CADR General Session & Exhibition, held March 25-28 in San Diego, California. More than 60 students and faculty researchers participated in this international meeting for oral and craniofacial research, delivering scientific presentations across workshops, symposia, oral sessions, and poster forums.

Penn Dental Medicine presenters shared discoveries spanning periodontal biology, oral cancer, biomaterials, immunology, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) research, population health, and emerging nanotechnologies. Faculty members led and contributed to scientific sessions, while students at all levels — predoctoral, graduate, and postgraduate – participated in poster and oral presentations.

“The work presented by our students and faculty highlights the strength of our research community and the extraordinary range of scholarship at Penn Dental Medicine,” says Dr. Esra Sahingur, Associate Dean of Graduate and Student Research.

Penn Dental Medicine researchers also received awards and recognition during the General Session for their contributions to oral health research. Notable honors included the following:

Student Awards and Recognitions

AADOCR Student Research Fellowship

This competitive fellowship encourages dental students in the United States to pursue careers in oral health research. Following completion of their research projects, recipients present their work at a future AADOCR meeting. Three DMD students from Penn Dental Medicine were recognized with a Student Research Fellowship award.

Yin-Chu (Ingrid) Lai, GD’23, D’28, Sex Differences in Inflammation and Analgesic Response in Post-Surgical Dental Pain (Mentor: Katherine N. Theken, PharmD, PhD)

Yuantong (Rachel) Li, D’27, Optical and Mechanical Properties of Compositional Gradient Multilayer Zirconia under High-Speed and Conventional Sintering (Mentor: Kyle Vining, DDS, PhD)

Connor Riesenberger, D’28, Optical and Mechanical Properties of Compositional Gradient Multilayer Zirconia under High-Speed and Conventional Sintering (Mentor: Yu Zhang, PhD)

AADOCR Hatton Competition – 2nd Place in the Postdoctoral Category

The competition is designed for junior investigators (junior, senior and postdoctoral) who exhibit potential for a productive career in dental research.

Xiaolei Li, Nanoengineered Endogenous Commensal Bioreactors for Targeted Biofilm Disruption and Caries Prevention

Dr.  Li’s research is leveraging the mouth’s innate defenses for targeted dental caries treatment. This project engineered a beneficial oral commensal bacterial strain into a nano-bacteria hybrid by FDA-approved iron oxide nanoparticles decoration. These microscopic hybrid factories continuously convert the bacteria’s endogenous hydrogen peroxide into highly potent reactive oxygen species specifically within acidic cariogenic microenvironments. This targeted therapy not only heavily resists salivary washout but achieved a significant reduction in severe dental caries lesions in vivo, pioneering a potentially new approach in therapeutic design.

Faculty Awards

IADR Joseph Lister Award for New Investigators Competitors – 1st Place

The IADR Joseph Lister Award for New Investigators was created to award new investigators with original research in oral disease prevention or oral health promotion.

Dr. Zhi Ren, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Endodontics, A New Class of Bacterial Motility from the Oral Microbiome

IADR Young Investigator Award

This award is presented in recognition of significant contributions to the field of oral health research and is one of the 17 IADR Distinguished Scientist Awards presented annually.

Dr. Chenshuang Li, Associate Professor of Orthodontics

Source: https://www.dental.upenn.edu/