STTR: A Novel Remedy for Periodontal Bone Loss

Statement of Work University of Nevada Las Vegas Dr. Ebersole is the PD of the project and Co-Investigator for the grant. He will oversee the nonhuman primate model to be implemented in testing the periodontitis treatment agent. He has over 30 years of experience in oral health studies using nonhuman primates. He will organize with Dr. Gonzalez at University of Kentucky (clinical expertise) and Dr. Burgos at the Caribbean Primate Research Center (veterinary expertise) to implement the model. Specifically, they will select the 16 adult animals to be used in the study. Baseline clinical, microbiome, and radiographs will be collected onsite at the CPRC. Ligatures will then be tied around the 1st premolar and 1st and 2nd molar teeth in each maxillary quadrant of each animal. Six weeks later, clinical evaluation and microbiome samples will be collected onsite at the CPRC and treatment begun. At 17 weeks post-ligation, clinical and microbiological samples will again be collected onsite at the CPRC and the ligatures removed. Finally, at 22 weeks of the study, clinical, microbiome, and radiographic samples will be collected onsite at the CPRC and the study concluded. UNLV will organize the shipment of the microbiome samples from the CPRC to NYU, as well as tabulating all the clinical data. Radiographs will be analyzed for alveolar bone changes using ImageJ. All of these data will be transferred to the PI at NYU for final analysis and interpretation. University of Kentucky Dr. Gonzalez is a Co-Investigator on the grant. He provides the dental clinical expertise, as well as support for overall project management with Dr. Ebersole. He will travel to the CPRC with Dr. Ebersole at each sampling interval to provide clinical evaluation and placing and removing the ligatures. He will also contribute to evaluating the clinical findings and interpreting the outcomes of disease and treatment. Caribbean Primate Research Center Dr. Burgos is the Associate Director Veterinarian at the CPRC and Co-Investigator on the grant. He has collaborated with Drs. Ebersole and Gonzalez in the use of the nonhuman primate for these types of studies for the last 10-15 years. As in past studies, he will help identify the 16 nonhuman primates to be used in the current project. He will oversee the housing and husbandry of the animals for the entire 22 week study. Additionally, he will oversee the blood sampling and analysis of blood chemistries at the beginning, mid-way through treatment, and at the end of the study. He will also supervise the technical staff in administering the treatment or vehicle gels on a weekly basis throughout the study. He will be the point of contact for UNLV organizing the shipment of microbiome samples to NYU.