Resident Spotlight Dr. Sourvanos

DENNIS SOURVANOS, BSDH, DDS

Postdoctoral Periodontics, DScD Candidate

Dennis is an NIDCR T-90 Post-Doctoral Fellow with the Center for Innovation and Precision Dentistry through the schools of Dental Medicine and Engineering. He is also an Advanced Graduate Dental Education student pursuing a Doctor of Science in Dentistry (DScD) and a certificate in Periodontics. Dennis recently completed a Certificate in Translational Research (CTR) with an emphasis in the regulatory sciences at the Perelman Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics (ITMAT). I was able to spend time with Dennis (he refers to pre-docs as colleagues, preferring first name interactions) to learn about a day in his busy life as a student researcher. We met outside of the Schattner Center and walked to the Smilow Center for Translational Research, housed in the same building as the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine and the Roberts Proton Therapy Center. In between getting a tour of his workspace in a laser lab and learning about silicon modeling systems, I asked him a few questions about his training and goals as a student researcher.

Why did you decide to pursue a DScD in addition to a periodontics residency?

“I pursued the DScD program for one primary reason. The DScD program will provide you with world-class mentorship and administrative support. These are untapped resources by my generation with potential that is boundless. As a future periodontal surgeon, I have a high interest in the translational research components of tissue engineering and laser therapeutics. It is in my interest to develop a niche within this discipline while making contributions to the greater profession. I recognized early on in my training (during dental hygiene at USC) that there was a big gap in translationalclinical research and potential for someone in our generation to make an impact. This brought me to the DScD, which is a great program. It is the only of its kind that will allow you to pursue clinical residency training with the flexibility to create/ personalize interests on the research side of the desk. The DScD administrators help you create a niche and mentor you on how to cultivate these contributions at the next level.

Penn is a unique place to co-exist as a postdoc, a trainee, student, researcher, scientist, and clinician. We have access to every single school within the greater Penn ecosystem. No other IVY institution can boast this broad diversity. As a DScD student, you are expected to collaborate across the university and pursue research that is cutting edge by bringing different group/expertise together at the same table for dialogue and discussion. The DScD program requires you to complete three graduate courses in addition to a robust research schedule. This is a great opportunity to network for future multidisciplinary collaborations. I have completed 6 to this point in topics ranging from biostatistics, scientific writing, grantsmanship, the regulatory sciences, and translational research.”

What does an average day look like?

“No two days are the same. My first 2.5 years of the DScD program were spent with clinical surgical training, and clinical training as a translational research scientist (I was a primary clinical interventionist in the ARMOR Mucositis trial with Radiation Oncology and CCTR/PDM). I spent years 2.53.5 as an NIH TL-1 Fellow with the Perelman Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics (ITMAT). The focus was on learning the FDA regulatory side of Clinical/ Translational Research. This was a broad introduction to the regulatory framework, and what is needed for a medical device, biologic, and clinical trial to go through the FDA process. Now, all of my time is designated as a T-90

Fellow with the Center for Innovation and Precision Dentistry (CiPD). This is a heavy collaboration with Radiation Oncology (RADONC) at the SMILOW Center. I am co-mentored by Dr. Fiorellini from the Department of Periodontics, and Dr. Zhu, a medical physicist and laser dosimetry specialist. As a member of the Zhu lab (medical physics/ laser dosimetry), my research focus is calculating light dosimetry for low level laser therapy. I am learning their protocols by working alongside them with various pre-clinical and clinical projects. We are developing a clinical protocol (as a team) to upregulate growth factors with laser wavelengths, for tissue regeneration in dentistry. I am also attending seminars/courses specific to Radiation Biology and Medical Physics through another advisor at SMILOW (Dr. Theresa Busch Lab, RADONC). The goal is to learn different methodologies so that we can figure out ways to implement these theoretical and clinical approaches to my work in dentistry.

Can you give an overview of your current research?

“I am working with a team that developed a laser protocol for Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) in RADONC. Their initial work was for PDT in the prostate, breast, and lung. We are repurposing these laser wavelengths, adjusting the parameters through a methodical calibration and computer verification (finite elemental analysis). I have created a novel 3-dimensional silicon modelling system that replicates the maxilla. The technique I used is similar to a dental pour-up, but with a very sensitive silicon material that has a high tear strength. Our current goal is to quantify how light moves through 3-dimensional objects. We are looking at quality and quantity of light at these junctions. The overall goal is to use these specific wavelengths to predictably upregulate growth factors like TGF-β1. This will be a non-invasive protocol that can be eventually used before surgery, during surgery, or after a healed surgical site.”

“I pursued the DScD program for one primary reason. The DScD program will provide you with world-class mentorship and administrative support.”

What is most exciting to you about working in academics?

“Collaborating with progressive-minded scientists in other fields, sharing technologies that are mainstream, and synapsing new applications for these technologies within our work. We take technology from dentistry and are introducing them into radiation oncology. We are learning from expertise in lasers, and figuring out how to implement it into dentistry.”

In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge facing academic dentistry in the next 10 years?

“Once a dental student graduates from an academic institution, there is a wide gap of knowledge that remains in private practice. These experiences over a practitioner’s career could provide insight and guide academic research initiatives. We need to figure out how to analyze this critical data from private clinical practice to help push the profession forward. There is potential for infinite contributions across many translational spaces. There are not enough clinician scientists pursuing multidisciplinary work and training in the translational sciences. This should be lightly incorporated into the curriculum for predoc students. As a generality, once a dental student graduates, they typically assume that they can rely on their company product reps or just follow a social media dentist without understanding the science behind a dental procedure or material. They get overwhelmed with running a business, working with staff and patients. This is precisely where an early formative introduction in the basics of translational research (understanding proper technique for validation) can help an aspiring general dentist become a lifelong clinician scientist. They can make a huge impact in both the academic and private practice space. This can be as simple as understanding how to read the product label packaging of our dental adhesive/primer and understanding the chemistry behind the adhesive composition. For instance, with a scientific approach, you can change the application protocol, to potentially heat the adhesive, slightly altering the state, so that it has better handling properties in the mouth. The result of this technique has also been proven to significantly increase adhesion of resin-based materials.”