Oral Health Research Connect - June 2025: Guest Speaker - Dr Morgan James & Dr Katharina Rabelo

Abstract

Translational Projects in Pain Management - Dr Morgan James: Dr James will highlight two translational projects in pain management. The first describes the development of a chemogenetic strategy to selectively reduce activity in trigeminal ganglion neurons in an animal model of trigeminal neuralgia—proof-of-concept work that is now guiding clinical translation of this technology. The second outlines the structure-based design and preclinical characterization of a novel sigma-1 receptor antagonist, developed as a potential adjunct to enhance opioid-based pain therapies.

AI-Driven Deep Learning in Dental Radiology: Advancing Education, Clinical Training, and Research - Dr Katharina Rabelo: Dr Rabelo will present a segment of her PhD research focused on leveraging AI to enhance dental radiology education and clinical training, while also advancing AI research within the field. She will share the results of the evaluation of an automated deep-learning system designed to detect positioning errors in bitewing radiographs. This technology supports AI-driven educational resources, assists clinicians in assessing the diagnostic value of each image before interpretation, and advances AI research by improving the management of heterogeneous datasets.