WILL FLOSSING SAVE YOUR LIFE?
TITLE:
WILL FLOSSING SAVE YOUR LIFE?
DATE:
Friday, August 29th, 2008
TIME:
3:30 PM
LOCATION:
GMCS 214
SPEAKER:
Roberta A. Gottlieb, Director, BioScience Center, San Diego State University
ABSTRACT:
Epidemiologists have identified a connection between gum disease (periodontitis) and heart disease (atherosclerosis), but there is no information on whether early treatment or prevention of periodontitis will prevent the later development of atherosclerosis. This study will focus on young adults who have gum disease to see if they have subtle signs of atherosclerosis, and to determine whether treating the periodontitis will correct the abnormalities. At the same time, we will use a metagenomics approach to identify the myriad of bacteria and viruses that populate the mouth, in order to determine if certain organisms are particularly associated with markers of atherosclerosis. We will acquire 16S rRNA sequences from all oral flora, which could be up to 1000 species per patient, with 200 patient samples (and two time points: before and after periodontal treatment). Managing the data and organizing the sequence information to categorize the organisms represents a significant bioinformatics challenge.
HOST:
Jose Castillo
DOWNLOAD: