Best master thesis!

Dyala Bakir's master thesis on polyphenolic nanocoatings for dental implants won this year's best master thesis award at the Faculty of Dentistry. Well done, Dyala!

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All those hours spent at the Biomaterials lab paid off for Dyala when she was awarded the Best Master Thesis 2022 diploma by Tiril Willumsen, Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry. Photo by Marie Lindeman Johansen, OD/UiO 

Dyala Bakir's master thesis Radical scavenging capacities of antioxidant polyphenolic coatings for titanium dental implants was selected as the best master thesis presented at the Faculty of Dentistry in 2022! In her master thesis, Dyala investigated the antioxidant properties of polyphenolic nanocoatings made of tannic acid and pyrogallol, two polyphenolic molecules that can be isolated from several common types of plants and have been shown to reduce inflammation in several human tissues. Dyala quantified the capacity of these molecules and coatings to scavenge, or inactivate, radical oxygen species released during inflammation, and thereby, reduce oxidative stress that can be harmful to cells in the affected tissues. After assessing the radical scavenging potential of the developed nanocoatings by measuring their ability to reduce a coloured model radical molecule ABTS, Dyala also analysed the capacity of the these antioxidant molecules and nanocoatings to reduce oxidative stress inflamed human gingival fibroblasts. All the lab work for the thesis was performed at the Department of Biomaterials and the thesis project was supervised by Hanna Tiainen and Florian Weber

The research presented in Dyala's thesis is part of our ongoing RCN-funded research project focusing on tackling microbial infections on implant surfaces using plant polyphenols, a group of antioxidant and antimicrobial compounds that are found in several plant-based foods, such as tea, chocolate and wine. The aim of the project is to develop thin multifunctional polyphenolic coatings that can be deposited on different types of implant materials and to evaluate their ability to prevent microbial infections and inflammation around bone-anchored implants, such as dental implants. The results of Dyala's research project were published in Journal of Biomedical Materials Research A earlier this year. This publication also featured the results from two other graduating dental students Sadaf Sarraj and Mathias Reiersen as well as last year's best master thesis winner by Victor A Jankowski. Read more about their research here. Dyala will also have a chance to present her research results at the annual meeting of the Norwegian Dental Association later this year as part of the national student researcher competition for dental students.

 

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Tags: Biomaterials, dental implant, surface modification, polyphenols, student researchers, research education, best thesis, NFR By Hanna Tiainen
Published June 27, 2022 6:21 PM - Last modified June 27, 2022 6:21 PM