Specific Program Information: Pre-Masters Program M.Sc. Program Ph.D. Program

Please Note: THE INTAKE IS DEPENDENT ON THE NUMBER OF PLACES AVAILABLE

GENERAL PROGRAM INFORMATION:

The program is designed for students who wish to pursue studies in Oral Biology leading to the degrees of M.Sc. or Ph.D.

The Department of Oral Biology is responsible for teaching all undergraduate and graduate courses in Oral Biology in the Faculty of Dentistry. This responsibility ensures that the members of the department have a wide range of expertise in the basic biological sciences.

The department will accept for graduate studies students with a basic science or a clinical degree. Students in the department have been successful in obtaining studentships and fellowships from local agencies and from the Medical Research Council of Canada (now the Canadian Institutes of Health Research).

EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES:

The department has numerous laboratories, a central instrument room, a central tissue-culture facility, three cold rooms, a centrifuge room, a walk-in 37°C incubator, and facilities for cultivation of anaerobic bacteria. Equipment is also available for continuous culture of bacteria and growth of bacterial biofilms. Most basic laboratory equipment including ultracentrifuges, high-pressure liquid and gas chromatographs, scintillation counters, ELISA readers, atomic absorption and UV spectrophotometers, and a range of equipment for electrophoresis and molecular biology is present in the department.

RESEARCH INTERESTS OF MEMBERS OF THE DEPARTMENT:

• Energy metabolism in oral bacteria - transport of substrate - bacterial adaptation.
• Oral microbial ecology, caries and periodontal disease - environment - immune response.
• Mechanisms of bacterial attachment.
• Salivary physiology - mathematical modelling of interactions between saliva and plaque.
• Signal transduction pathways that control exocrine secretion in salivary glands.
• Involvement of oncogenes in salivary gland neoplasia.
• Role of GTP-binding proteins in platelet function.
• Stimulus-response coupling underlying platelet activation.
• Development of mineralized dental tissues under pathological conditions.
• Calpain protease activation and myocardial ischemic/reperfusion injury.
• Nuclear calcium-binding proteins.
• Impact of environmental factors on lung development.
• Neonatal respiratory distress.
• Control of fibroblast activity.
• Influence of tobacco smoke on inflammatory processes.

COURSES OFFERED:

• Required Communication Skills in Dental Research
• Departmental Courses Glandular Metabolism and Secretion
• Oral Microbial Ecology
• Pharmacology and Therapeutics
• Infectious Diseases and the Oral Cavity
• Special Problems in Oral Biology
• Recent Advances in Oral Biology

Students may also be required to take courses offered by other departments in the University, if these are relevant to their studies.

*If you are interested in applying for any of the Dentistry Graduate programs, please visit the U of M Graduate Studies Department website for the required forms and information.

For more inquiries, please contact:

Graduate Programs in Oral Biology D33 Dental Building 780 Bannatyne Winnipeg, MB Canada, R3E 0W2 Tel: 204.789.3705 Fax: 204.789.3913 email: dent_oralbiology@umanitoba.ca