SEVEN RESEARCH MEN NAMED TO COMMITTEE

Seven research men in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, of the Medical School, and the Dental School have been appointed by President Conant as members of a University Committee on Research in Dental Medicine, the first committee of its kind in educational history.

In recognition of the fact that modern dental research is intimately bound up with and dependent upon research and expert knowledge in the fields of Chemistry, Biology, and Medicine, the committee has been given general supervision over research in the Dental School. Its province will be trifold; to promote important dental research; to act as a clearing house for such of that research as is important to other fields; and to provide official contacts through which the Dental School can readily get assistance for its research problems that overlap the other departments.

The committee consists of Elmer P. Kohler, Abbot and James Lawrence Professor of Chemistry; Alfred C. Redfield, Professor of Physiology and Director of the Biological Laboratories; Simeon B. Wolbach, Shattuck Professor of Pathological Anatomy, and Consulting Pathologist to the Cancer Commission of Harvard University; Walter B. Cannon, George Higginson Professor of Physiology; Percy R. Howe, Thomas Alexander Forsyth Professor of Dental Science, and Instructor in Pathology, Harvard Medical School; Lawrence W. Baker, Professor of Orthodontia; and Dr. George P. Matthews, Instructor in Anatomy. Dean Leroy M. S. Miner of the Dental School will serve as a member ex-officie of the committee.

The first project sponsored by the committee will be an elaboration of some research work in the effects of nutrition on teeth and their supporting structures, which has been carried on by Professor Howe, collaborating with Professor Wolbach.

The particular problem is as follows, in the general field of vitamin deficiency studies:

1. Extension of studies now in progress on the mode of action of Vitamin C or ascorbic acid to include: (a) testing, with scorbutic guinea pigs, the activity of products intermediate in the synthesis of ascorbic acid from xylose; (b) the preparation and testing of substances formed by systematic changes in the structure of ascorbic acid; (c) an investigation of the manner in which ascorbic acid is produced by animals which are not subject to scurvy.

2. The study of the effects of inorganic deficiencies and especially the substitution of various elements for calcium in the diet.

3. The study of intercellular materials as solvents in the living animal for diffusable materials introduced into the blood stream at a rate faster than elimination can take place. There is much evidence that sugars diffuse into collagen to a point of equilibrium with the accumulation in the blood stream so that the studies should begin with sugars. It is possible that sugars may play a role in calcification of tissues. In any event, an attempt will be made to study calcified tissues, teeth, and bone. It is to be anticipated that progress will be slow as the techniques required will have to be worked out.

It is hoped that these researches will not only clear up some dark problems so far as dentistry is concerned, but also add to the knowledge of some of the broader aspects of biology.

For this work the committee has received a Milton Fund grant of $8,000 for the year 1934-35. It will be under the immediate supervision of Professors Howe, Wolbach, and Kohler of the committee.

It is proposed to obtain the assistance of a research organic chemist, who will develop the chemical aspects of the problem, under the guidance of Professor Kohler. Dr. Wolbach will supervise the work in the pathological field, while Dr. Howe will continue his general nutritional experiments.

"The formation of the committee is a timely recognition of the recent development of dental research," explained Dean Miner of the Harvard Dental School.

"Until the last few years dentistry has been generally regarded as an isolated training. This new step indicates the breadth of the problems of dental research, and the importance of those problems to the other branches of medical knowledge and investigation.

"Today the expert needs help in rounding out his findings. We are trying, through this new committee, to get a coordinated research with expert attention in the various fields. The result of such research will contribute far more than a fine performance in any one particular field."

Since the naming of the Thomas A. Forsyth Chair of Dental Science in 1925, there has been a Haison between Dental School research activities and the pathological department of the Medical School. But until the present step there has been no general, official cooperation between the research staffs of the University and of the Dental School.

The particular project outlined above is but one of many now under way which the committee will help to develop along fundamental lines.

Other projects now in progress deal with dental caries, the most prevalent of all diseases, and with studies of the growth and development of the jaws and teeth