LOS ANGELES, Aug. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Magicland Children’s Dental, providers of top-notch pedodontics and orthodontics in Southern California, partners with local school lunch programs to hand out to-go lunches and toothbrushes to local schoolchildren and their families.

Standing by their company credo to SERV (standing for Service, Excellence, Respect, and Value), West Coast Dental’s Magicland employees have taken to the streets to help their community by handing out over 1500 to-go lunches and oral care products to local children, and their families, in need.

While COVID-19 has affected our ability to gather, it’s also deeply impacted schoolchildren and their families who rely on their schools meals, support, and education. To help support our community, Magicland Dental has teamed up with local school lunch programs to hand out meals, and also toothbrushes, to ensure nutritious meals and continuous oral health education despite the very real limitations of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The program is a continuation of Magicland Dental’s commitment to providing local children, in partnership with the local school districts, the quality oral healthcare that they, and every child, truly deserves.

The Magicland Dental team dressed up in costumes (like Spiderman, and the tooth fairy!) to make their mission fun for children – all while masked and gloved to ensure absolute safety for staff and guests.

«COVID-19 has presented challenges for us all, but together we will get through this,» says VP of Marketing Norma Adams. «We are grateful for the opportunity to serve our communities and bring direct support exactly how and where it’s needed most.»

Through the program, Magicland Dental has already distributed over 1500 school lunches packed with toothbrushes for children in the community.

To visit either Magicland Dental office, please visit http://www.magiclanddental.com.

About West Coast Dental
Privately held for 25 years, West Coast Dental Services has continued to serve Southern California with the finest dental and orthodontic care in the state. Started by a group of dedicated dental professionals who saw the need for quality, multi-specialty dental care, West Coast Dental now has 35 state-of-the-art dental care practices across the state of California and three in the state of Washington. West Coast Dental Services delivers the highest standard of care using the latest technologies with a team of talented general dentists and specialists.
For more information, visit http://www.westcoastdental.com

SOURCE Magicland Dental

COLLEGE PARK, Md., Aug. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Enhancing the production of global staples like wheat to feed a rapidly growing global population requires the fast integration of new genes and traits into usable varieties for growers. To meet this need and incorporate natural genetic variation that improves wheat quality and yield, Vijay Tiwari, assistant professor in Plant Science & Landscape Architecture at the University of Maryland (UMD), is directing a new grant from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA) that applies his unique expertise in Radiation Hybrid (RH) mapping. Used to validate the whole wheat genome sequence, RH mapping can improve the targeting and transfer of valuable genetic traits without incorporating any negative traits that may set back the breeding process. Collaborating with Kansas State University, Tiwari will guide the development of new genetic techniques using RH mapping to incorporate desirable traits into the wheat genome and enhance wheat breeding.

«I am very excited about this grant as it provides me with the tools and resources to perform active research on a very important topic that affects global food security,» says Tiwari. «We previously led the RH mapping work to assist in sequencing the whole wheat reference genome through the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC). Now through this project, we will be combining RH mapping, unique germplasm [or living tissue from which new plants can be grown], and advances in genomics to develop a pipeline for wheat improvement.»

To meet future demands of a projected world population of 9.6 billion by 2050, wheat production will need to increase by 60 percent according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. To preserve biodiversity, water, and nutrient resources, this increase has to be predominantly achieved through crop and trait improvement on currently cultivated land using sustainable agricultural approaches.

«To keep pace with the growing demands in wheat production,» says Tiwari, «we need quick integration of new genes and traits in wheat breeding. However, gene transfer from wheat’s wild and related genetic material brings undesirable traits that negatively influence end-use quality and grain yield. Our project team is focused on developing a method without genetic modification to speed up the natural breeding process and transfer important genes from wheat’s genetic ancestors to bread wheat varieties while reducing linkage drag.»

Linkage drag is the process by which undesirable traits are ‘dragged’ over with desirable traits during the genetic recombination process. According to Tiwari, linkage drag is just one of several «big recombination barriers to utilize wheat’s distant gene pool for bread wheat improvement.» Using his expertise in RH mapping to validate and create maps of entire chromosomes, Tiwari and his collaborators plan to use genetic markers to develop a method to track genetic variation that can stand in the way of desirable breeding and channel desirable traits for incorporation into new bread wheat varieties.

«This fits very well with the work I do under our Maryland Small Grain Breeding and Genetics program at UMD,» says Tiwari. «UMD’s program is focused on developing elite cultivars with novel genes and traits to increase overall crop productivity. The long-term goal of this new project is to reduce the bottlenecks for gene transfer from wheat’s distant gene pool that will serve as an important step to bring more genes and traits to fight diseases and abiotic stresses like heat. Germplasm developed in this project will be available to breeders across the country. The success of this project will aid our overall goal to ensure global food security.»

This work is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA), Award #2020-67013-31460.

SOURCE University of Maryland College of Agriculture and Natural Resources

LOUISVILLE, Ky., Aug. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Nine middle school teachers from eight states have been selected to participate in the prestigious National STEM Scholar Program, a unique professional development program that provides advanced STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) training, national network building, and project support for middle school science teachers nationwide.

Created in partnership between the National Stem Cell Foundation and The Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science at Western Kentucky University (WKU), the National STEM Scholar Program selects ten teachers each year from a national pool of applicants based solely on the description of a Challenge Project the applicant would implement if funds were not a barrier to execution. Selected projects are chosen for maximum impact in the middle school classrooms where research shows lifelong STEM career decisions are being made. STEM Scholars convene on WKU’s campus for a week of advanced STEM training and finalize their Challenge Projects with input from their National STEM Scholar class colleagues. Each Scholar is provided access to a generous stipend for the technology and supplies they need to implement their Challenge Projects at home.

The 2020 National STEM Scholar class will be hosted by The Gatton Academy August 4 – 9 on the campus of WKU in Bowling Green, KY. Selected from approximately 200 applicants across the country, the 2020 National STEM Scholars are:

• Allison Bogart, Lake Isabella, CA – Woodrow W. Wallace Middle
• Tammy Bartlett, Dinwiddie, VA – Dinwiddie Middle School
• Jennifer Durham, Elizabeth City, NC – H.L. Trigg Community School
• Erin Elliott, Panama City Beach, FL – Surfside Middle School
• Amanda Huff, Hopkinsville, KY – Christian County Middle School
• Rob Jackson, Topeka, KS – Seaman Middle School
• Larisa Leap, Carrollton, KY – Carroll County Middle School
• Katie Lee, McKinney, TX – Dr. Jack Cockrill Middle School
• Patrick Marti, Seattle, WA – Villa Academy

Dr. Paula Grisanti, CEO of the National Stem Cell Foundation, said, «Through our work with researchers and scientists nationwide, we became aware of the widening gap between 21st Century jobs and the U.S. STEM-educated graduates who can fill them. We added education to our mission in 2015 as a way to support the development of a new generation of scientists working to advance technology, build infrastructure and find cures for diseases and conditions that affect us all. Supporting teachers who inspire and motivate middle school students at this critical decision-making age will directly impact how many choose to pursue STEM skills that are essential for 21st Century jobs. By investing in the influential middle school STEM teacher now, we reach thousands of students in classrooms today and far into the future.»

Dr. Julia Link Roberts, Executive Director of The Gatton Academy, added, «This partnership will accrue benefits for the National STEM Scholars, middle school students in their classrooms, and the middle school science teachers with whom they collaborate. The National STEM Scholar Program is an excellent way for teachers to learn new strategies and new ways to engage students to help them become and stay interested in science and math.»

To date, National STEM Scholars represent 49 middle schools in 26 states, from Alaska to New York and Wisconsin to Florida. A significant requirement of selection is the commitment to share lessons learned with colleagues in the Scholar’s home schools, districts or states, magnifying impact over multiple classrooms and years.

About the National Stem Cell Foundation
The National Stem Cell Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that funds adult stem cell and regenerative medicine research, connects children with limited resources to clinical trials for rare diseases and underwrites the National STEM Scholar Program for middle school science teachers inspiring the next generation of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) pioneers nationwide. For more information, visit http://www.nationalstemcellfoundation.org.

About The Gatton Academy
Established in 2007, The Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science is Kentucky’s first state-supported, residential program for high school students with interests in advanced math and science careers. One of only 15 such programs in the nation, The Academy has been named to The Washington Post’s list of top-performing schools with elite students for eight consecutive years. For more information, visit http://www.wku.edu/academy.

SOURCE National Stem Cell Foundation

WOODBRIDGE, Conn., Aug. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — P2 Science, Inc. (P2) today published Edition 1 of The Citropol® Book, which collects in one place all the key information needed by formulators to build advanced clean beauty products on the Citropol platform. Citropols are novel, forest-derived, renewable liquid polymers, recently launched by P2, which are finding application as alternatives to silicones. Key areas covered in the book include applications, formulations, physical, chemical and sensory properties, environmental safety, toxicology, and provenance.

Neil Burns, CEO of P2, said «This is a book for cosmetic brand marketers and consumer product developers. As the Citropols are a new, patented, class of compounds, people really appreciate, having all the key information they need in one place. The book provides ideas and data to enable creation of high performing products built on Citropols» Ryan Cheng, Business Development Director of P2 noted «Customers worldwide have started to realize the potential for Citropols to be a central part of their formulations palette and products’ storytelling. The Citropol book helps get them up and running quickly making great cosmetic products and the ideas in there help strengthen brand identity.»

The book can be downloaded at https://p2science.com/citropols/.

About P2 Science:
P2 Science is a renewable chemistry company. P2 has developed and patented green chemistry technologies for converting renewable feedstocks into high-value specialty products. Investors in P2 include BASF Venture Capital, Xeraya Capital, Elm Street Ventures, Connecticut Innovations, Ironwood Capital, HG Ventures and Chanel. The company started up its first manufacturing plant in September of 2018 which produces novel renewable aroma chemicals and cosmetics ingredients. For more information, see http://www.p2science.com.

SOURCE P2 Science