Greek Biomedical Science Student Wins First Prize For Dental Bacteria Remedy

This story was submitted to us by one of HellasFrappe's regular readers Mr. Billy Theofanis. The student that was honored is one of his direct relatives. (Na tin xerese Bill!)

Jerusalem -- Georgia Kotantoula, a Greek student in The Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s International Master’s in Biomedical Science program, has earned first prize in an international competition organized by the European Association of Orthodontists. Ms. Kotantoula, one of 500 participants at the organization’s conference, presented a remedy developed to moderate the release of materials that prevent the accumulation of surface bacteria. The remedy generates longer lasting protection against biofilm, layers of bacteria that cling to hard surfaces such as teeth, which may lead to caries (cavities).

Ms. Kotantoula's remedy is an outcome of a fruitful scientific collaboration between The Hebrew University’s School of Pharmacy and Faculty of Dental Medicine, and has been patented by the Yissum Research Development Company of The Hebrew University. Clinical trials will begin soon to test the remedy’s efficiency.

The International Biomedical Science program at The Hebrew University’s Faculty of Dental Medicine, was founded last year in partnership with the university’s Rothberg International School and is continuing into its second year next month.

As part of the framework of the program, students perform advanced biomedical lab research relating to dental science, including microbiology, stem cells, genetic engineering and computational biology. Among the students in the program are those from the United States, India, Argentina, Japan, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, and Costa Rica.

Professor Doron Steinberg, Head of the International Graduate Program in Biomedicine of the Faculty of Dental Medicine said. “One of the key reasons that we decided to open the international program was our desire to promote the international status of the faculty and to widen the extensive research activity that is being performed within it. There is no doubt that Kotantoula's success in this competition proves that the research efforts of the program are already beginning to bear fruit and to produce internationally recognized results.”