• Recognition & Award
• Expressions Summer 2024

Research Output Prize

Tooth tissue regeneration study

Professor Waruna Dissanayaka’s findings will promote the development of new strategies to enhance the therapeutic potential of tooth stem cells.

The journal article “HIF-1α Stabilization Boosts Pulp Regeneration by Modulating Cell Metabolism”, published in the Journal of Dental Research, has won the HKU 2023 Research Output Prize (ROP).

Led by Professor Waruna Dissanayaka, Assistant Professor in Oral Biosciences, this groundbreaking study demonstrated for the first time that tooth stem cells can become more resistant to injury and disease through adaptive mechanisms induced by “positive stress”. The researchers found that the protective response triggered by oxidative stress in a low-oxygen environment enhances tooth pulp tissue regeneration.

ROP is a faculty-based award that acknowledges exceptional research output by an author (or team of authors). This remarkable achievement has also been recognised with the IADR Colgate Research in Prevention Award at the 2022 IADR General Session.

We applaud Professor Dissanayaka and the team for their significant contribution to advancing the understanding of tooth stem cells and their potential in dental regeneration.