UCSF School of Dentistry NEWSBRIEF

Orthodontic resident John Dolan is the 2007 graduate winner of the Collegiate Inventors Competition, a program of the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation.

Dolan invented a device to quantify the effectiveness of analgesics in animal models of head and neck cancer. The device measures gnawing function in animals as an index of pain. In an automated manner, the instrument measures the time necessary for a mouse to accomplish a series of discrete gnawing tasks.

Over the last three years, Dolan investigated the molecular mechanisms that produce orofacial pain. "During my first year of dental school I joined Dr. Brian Schmidt in the operating room and clinic where he introduced me to patients with intractable pain. I immediately became interested in the molecular mechanisms underlying cancer pain. I soon realized there is a gap preventing translational research in this field because of the absence of a method to quantify head and neck pain in an animal model." Dolan notes that a useful assay must address pain during function. "Disorders such as oral cancer or jaw joint pain are often painful only while a patient attempts normal functions such as swallowing or chewing, so we needed an instrument that would evaluate pain in animals during behaviors that are analogous to those that produce pain in patients." Dolan knew that if he could discover a way to measure these pain levels in animals, it would go a long way toward helping people who are faced with orofacial pain. "This is a well known problem that has plagued research into pathologies of the head and neck but I thought I might be able to approach the problem from a new angle."

A tremendous honor for Dolan and the UCSF School of Dentistry, from among whose student body he is believed to be the first winner ever, the inventors prize carries with it an award of $15,000, and $5,000 for his faculty advisor, Brian Schmidt. The competition is comprised of graduate students working on projects with five- to eight-year time frames. Dolan says that he "was ecstatic just to be a finalist", describing his victory as the "the culmination of years of investigation into cancer pain carried out with Dr. Brian Schmidt." Adds Dolan: “I came to Brian with an idea that I thought could address the gap in craniofacial pain research. Long before it was clear that we would succeed he pushed me to extend the idea and innovate, putting all the material and intellectual resources of his lab behind the effort. We worked together every Saturday for several years to refine my idea and build toward something that would work. After applying to the NIH with our preliminary data, we were awarded a grant and are currently running full scale trials with my device."

Says Schmidt: "In 2003, John joined our laboratory. The biggest problem we were facing was the lack of an objective pain assay for the head and neck. This was the critical missing component for studying basic neurologic mechanisms underlying orofacial pain. John focused for three years on developing a solution. He applied his skills in mechanical design and his understanding of animal behavior to create a deceptively simple apparatus. His device competed against more than 100 inventions from PhD programs across the country. This was a competition at the national level and he received several thousand dollars just for his selection as a finalist. He then spent four days at Cal Tech competing against seven other finalists and ultimately won. His first place win attests not just to the innovation of the device but also to the enormous potential his device offers for investigators in the field of craniofacial and pain research. Most importantly it holds potential for helping patients suffering from disease in the head and neck. His device is the last critical component necessary for the translational research we are pursuing to understand and treat pain in the head and neck."

Relevant links:

The Collegiate Inventors Competition website:
http://www.invent.org/collegiate/index.html

Detailed Announcement of Winners (Adobe Acrobat PDF):
http://www.invent.org/collegiate/CIC2007Winners.pdf



	Orthodontics resident John Dolan is 2007 Collegiate Inventors Competition Graduate Category Winner

	Orthodontic resident John Dolan is the 2007 graduate winner of the Collegiate Inventors Competition, a program of the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation. Dolan invented a device to quantify the effectiveness of analgesics in animal models of head and neck cancer. The device measures gnawing function in animals as an index of pain. In an automated manner, the instrument measures the time necessary for a mouse to accomplish a series of discrete gnawing tasks. Over the last three years, Dolan investigated the molecular mechanisms that produce orofacial pain. "During my first year of dental school I joined Dr. Brian Schmidt in the operating room and clinic where he introduced me to patients with intractable pain. I immediately became interested in the molecular mechanisms underlying cancer pain. I soon realized there is a gap preventing translational research in this field because of the absence of a method to quantify head and neck pain in an animal model." Dolan notes that a useful assay must address pain during function. "Disorders such as oral cancer or jaw joint pain are often painful only while a patient attempts normal functions such as swallowing or chewing, so we needed an instrument that would evaluate pain in animals during behaviors that are analogous to those that produce pain in patients." Dolan knew that if he could discover a way to measure these pain levels in animals, it would go a long way toward helping people who are faced with orofacial pain. "This is a well known problem that has plagued research into pathologies of the head and neck but I thought I might be able to approach the problem from a new angle." A tremendous honor for Dolan and the UCSF School of Dentistry, from among whose student body he is believed to be the first winner ever, the inventors prize carries with it an award of $15,000, and $5,000 for his faculty advisor, Brian Schmidt. The competition is comprised of graduate students working on projects with five- to eight-year time frames. Dolan says that he "was ecstatic just to be a finalist", describing his victory as the "the culmination of years of investigation into cancer pain carried out with Dr. Brian Schmidt." Adds Dolan: “I came to Brian with an idea that I thought could address the gap in craniofacial pain research. Long before it was clear that we would succeed he pushed me to extend the idea and innovate, putting all the material and intellectual resources of his lab behind the effort. We worked together every Saturday for several years to refine my idea and build toward something that would work. After applying to the NIH with our preliminary data, we were awarded a grant and are currently running full scale trials with my device." Says Schmidt: "In 2003, John joined our laboratory. The biggest problem we were facing was the lack of an objective pain assay for the head and neck. This was the critical missing component for studying basic neurologic mechanisms underlying orofacial pain. John focused for three years on developing a solution. He applied his skills in mechanical design and his understanding of animal behavior to create a deceptively simple apparatus. His device competed against more than 100 inventions from PhD programs across the country. This was a competition at the national level and he received several thousand dollars just for his selection as a finalist. He then spent four days at Cal Tech competing against seven other finalists and ultimately won. His first place win attests not just to the innovation of the device but also to the enormous potential his device offers for investigators in the field of craniofacial and pain research. Most importantly it holds potential for helping patients suffering from disease in the head and neck. His device is the last critical component necessary for the translational research we are pursuing to understand and treat pain in the head and neck." Relevant links: The Collegiate Inventors Competition website: http://www.invent.org/collegiate/index.html Detailed Announcement of Winners (Adobe Acrobat PDF): http://www.invent.org/collegiate/CIC2007Winners.pdf