Na Tian PERIO 14 Shines at Science & Engineering Day

University-wide Science and Engineering Day 2011 was held on March 23 in the George Sherman Union. The annual event is designed to highlight graduate students’ scientific research on both the Charles River and Medical Center campuses.

Na Tian PERIO 14 was the recipient of the GSDM Dean’s Award. Her research was titled, “Proteolytic Degradation of Immunogenic 33-mer and 26-mer Gliadin-Derived Peptides by Oral Bacteria Reduces Tissue Transglutaminase Recognition In Vitro.” She worked on this research with Drs. Guoxian Wei, Detlef Schuppan, Frank Oppenheim, and Eva Helmerhorst of the Department of Periodontology & Oral Biology.

Tian’s research finds that oral bacteria are able to degrade certain gliadin-derived immunogenic peptides into smaller fragments. She says, “This degradation reduces the recognition of these peptides by transglutaminase 2. Elimination of transglutaminase 2-mediated deamidation suggests that certain oral proteases may reduce the immunogenicity of these peptides in celiac disease.”

“Congratulations to Na Tian, for her outstanding work,” said Dean Hutter. “Her poster presentation was well done and generated a good deal of interest from the Science & Engineering Day participants. She served as an excellent representative of GSDM at this University-wide event and is truly deserving of this honor.”