Delivering What We PROMISED: Outcomes of a Coaching and Leadership Fellowship for Mentors of Underrepresented Mentees.

Research demonstrates that mentorship can significantly improve career success, career satisfaction, and persistence for underrepresented (UR) minority faculty. However, many UR faculty members do not receive the mentorship they need, nor do mentors always possess the range of skills required to guide UR mentees through the unique challenges they face. We developed a 1-year fellowship training program, PROMISED, designed to help mentors promote career self-authorship and leadership among their UR mentees. PROMISED fellows participated in a two-day in-person training to develop career coaching skills, followed by a series of one-month leadership training/mentoring modules. We assessed mentors' skills at the start and completion of the program. We found that PROMISED fellows reported an increase in perceived skill level in nearly every training topic, with "addressing diversity" demonstrating the most significant change. These results provide evidence that career coaching and leadership training offer an effective supplement to traditional mentor training and that mentors can incorporate these skills effectively into their mentoring practice. Taken together, we believe our data suggest that a program designed to train mentors in coaching and leadership can enhance career satisfaction, persistence, and retention of their UR mentees.

MMP3 and TIMP1 variants contribute to chronic periodontitis and may be implicated in disease progression.

AIM: Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play a key role in the tissue destruction characteristic of chronic periodontitis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of MMP and TIMP polymorphisms with chronic periodontitis in two populations. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 34 polymorphisms spanning 12 MMP and 2 TIMP genes were genotyped in 401 individuals from Brazil (99 cases with chronic periodontitis and 302 controls), and 274 individuals from the US (70 cases and 204 controls). Individuals were considered cases if presenting at least three teeth exhibiting sites of clinical attachment loss ≥ 5 mm in two different quadrants. Controls were characterized by absence of clinical attachment loss and no sites with probing depth >3 mm. MMP3 and TIMP1 mRNA expression was evaluated in healthy and diseased periodontal tissues. RESULTS: TIMP1 showed association with chronic periodontitis in the Brazilian population (for rs5906435, p = 0.0004), whereas MMP3 showed association in the US population (for rs679620, p = 0.0003; and rs650108, p = 0.002) and in the Brazilian population (for rs639752, p = 0.005). MMP3 and TIMP1 mRNA expression was significantly higher in diseased tissues when compared to control tissues. CONCLUSIONS: Our results further support a role for variations in MMP3 in chronic periodontitis and report a novel association with TIMP1. These genes may be considered additional candidate genes for chronic periodontitis.

Characterization of soluble glycoprotein D-mediated herpes simplex virus type 1 infection.

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) entry into permissive cells involves attachment to cell-surface glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) and fusion of the virus envelope with the cell membrane triggered by the binding of glycoprotein D (gD) to cognate receptors. In this study, we characterized the observation that soluble forms of the gD ectodomain (sgD) can mediate entry of gD-deficient HSV-1. We examined the efficiency and receptor specificity of this activity and used sequential incubation protocols to determine the order and stability of the initial interactions required for entry. Surprisingly, virus binding to GAGs did not increase the efficiency of sgD-mediated entry and gD-deficient virus was capable of attaching to GAG-deficient cells in the absence of sgD. These observations suggested a novel binding interaction that may play a role in normal HSV infection.