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ORCA NATHAN COCHRANE 
JUNIOR SCIENTIST AWARD

2024 Award Winners

There were two winners in 2024:

  • Heather Lundbeck, Cardiff, Wales, UK for presenting “Patient barriers/facilitators to implementing minimally invasive dentistry; systematic review”
  • Eilaf Ahmed, Greifswald, Germany for presenting “Innovative management of multiple non-cavitated proximal caries in high-risk patients: combining SDF & orthodontic separators”
Heather Lundbeck (middle) with Nicola Innes (left) and Daniela Raggio (right)
Heather Lundbeck (middle) with Nicola Innes (left) and Daniela Raggio (right)
Eilaf Ahmed (middle) with Margherita Fontana (left) and Gail Douglas (right)
Eilaf Ahmed (middle) with Margherita Fontana (left) and Gail Douglas (right)

About the Award

The ORCA Junior Scientist Award, inaugurated in 2007 as the Young Investigator’s Award and renamed into “ORCA Nathan Cochrane Junior Scientist Award” at the General Assembly of 4 July 2014 in Greifswald, Germany, intends to encourage and support young scientists in the field of cariology and related areas. It is awarded for an outstanding contribution to the annual ORCA Congress.

The prize winner receives a certificate and free registration to a future ORCA Congress.

Applicants for the ORCA Nathan Cochrane Junior Scientist Award are required to fulfill the following criteria:

  1. be a current member of ORCA;
  2. have not more than 5 international publications identified in Medline on the day of the deadline for abstract submission for the next ORCA Congress;
  3. be present at the closing ceremony of the ORCA Congress;
  4. not be a previous winner of the ORCA Nathan Cochrane Junior Scientist Award;
  5. must be the first author of the presentation.

Presenters enter the competition by ticking the appropriate box when submitting their abstract via the abstract submission website.

The deadline to apply for this award coincides with the abstract submission deadline for the next ORCA Congress. The submission of the abstract follows the same submission guidelines as for all other abstracts submitted to the next ORCA Congress. However, additional requirements will be communicated to all contestants after the acceptance of their abstract at the beginning of March.

Past Winners of ORCA Junior Scientist Awards

YearWinner, Affiliation, & CountryBibliography of Publication of Awarded Presentation
2007Nathan Cochrane,
University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
Cochrane NJ, Saranathan S, Cai F, Cross K J, Reynolds EC. Enamel subsurface lesion remineralisation with casein phosphopeptide stabilised solutions of calcium, phosphate and fluoride. Caries Res 2008; 42:88–97.
2008Peter Tschoppe,
Charite, Free University and Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany
Tschoppe P, Meyer-Lueckel H.
Mineral distribution of artificial dentinal caries lesions after treatment with fluoride agents in combination with saliva Substitutes. Arch Oral Biol 2011; 56:775-784.
2009Maria Mantzourani,
Kings College London, London, UK
Mantzourani M, Gilbert SC, Sulong HNH, Sheehy EC , Tank S, Fenlon M, Beighton D.The isolation of bifidobacteria from occlusal carious lesions in children and adults. Caries Res 2009; 43:308–313.
2010Nadine Schlüter,
University of Giessen,
Giessen, Germany
Schlueter N, Lussi A, Tolle A, Ganss C. Effects of Erosion Protocol Design on Erosion/Abrasion Study Outcome and on Active Agent (NaF and SnF2) Efficacy. Caries Res 2016;50:170-179.
2011Nattida Charadram,
University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Charadram N, Farahani RM, Harty D, Rathsam C, Swain MV, Hunter N. Regulation of reactionary dentin formation by odontoblasts in response to polymicrobial invasion of dentin matrix. Bone 2012; 50:265–275.
2012Nasrine Mohammed,
Queen Mary University, London, UK
Mohammed NR, Kent NW, Lynch RJM, Karpukhina N, Hill R, Anderson P. Effects of fluoride on in vitro enamel demineralization analyzed by 19 F MAS-NMR. Caries Res 2013; 47:421–428.
2013Tobias Winterfeld
University of Giessen, Germany
Schlueter N, Winterfeld K, Quera V, Winterfeld T, Ganss C. Toothbrushing Systematics Index (TSI) - A new tool for quantifying systematics in toothbrushing behaviour. PlosOne 2018 13(4): e0196497.
2014Leandro Hilgert
Faculty of Health Sciences,
University of Brasilia, Brazil
Hilgert LA, Leal SC, Mulder J, Creugers NHJ, Frencken JE. Caries-preventive effect of supervised tooth brushing and sealants. J Dent Res 2015;94:1218-24.
2015Ying Liao
Sichuan University and ACTA
Liao Y, Chen J, Brandt BW, Zhu Y, Li J, van Loveren C, Deng DM. Identification and functional analysis of genome mutations in a fluoride-resistant Streptococcus mutans strain. PLoS One. 2015 Apr 9;10(4):e0122630.
2016 Lina Dziaugyte
Institute of Odontology, Vilnius University, Lithuania
Džiaugytė L, Aleksejūnienė J, Brukienė V, Pečiulienė V. Self-efficacy theory-based intervention in adolescents: a cluster randomized trial-focus on oral self-care practice and oral self-care skills. Int J Paediatr Dent. 2017 Jan;27(1):37-46.
2017Diego F. Nóbrega
Piracicaba Dental School, University of Campinas, Brazil
Nóbrega DF, Leitão TJ, Cury JA, Tenuta LMA. Fluoride Binding to Dental Biofilm Bacteria: Synergistic Effect with Calcium Questioned. Caries Res. 2019;53(1):10-15.
2018Nicole R. Aimée
Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Brasília, Brazil
Aimée NR, van Wikj AJ, Varjão MM, Paes AB Lourenço J, MEstrinho HD, Carvalho JC. Changes in adolescents' oral health status: Responsiveness of the child perception questionnaire 11-14. Caries Res. 2019 Jul 30:1-9. Doi: 10.1159/000501587.
2019Elizabeth S. Rocha
School of Dentistry, University of São Paulo, Brazil
2020Ashley Verlinden
Center for Dentistry and Oral Hygiene, University Medical Centre Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands and
The Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research TNO Child Health, Leiden
Verlinden DA, Schuller AA, Vermaire JHE, Reijneveld SA. Referral from well-child care clinics to dental clinics leads to earlier initiation of preventive dental visits: A quasi-experimental study. Int J Paediatr Dent. 2024 Mar;34(2):190-197. doi: 10.1111/ipd.13124.
2021Dono Kahharova
ACTA, Department of Preventive Dentistry, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Kahharova D, Pappalardo VY, Buijs MJ, de Menezes RX, Peters M, Jackson R, Hara AT, Eckert G, Katz B, Keels MA, Levy SM, Zaura E, Brandt BW, Fontana M. Microbial Indicators of Dental Health, Dysbiosis, and Early Childhood Caries. J Dent Res. 2023 Jul;102(7):759-766.
2022Audrey Hollanders
Department of Dentistry, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
2023Ruba Abdulrahim
Department of Preventive and Pediatric Dentistry, Unimedizin Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

Mathilde Frost Kristensen
Department of Dentistry and Oral Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark | Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark





Kristensen MF, Lund MB, Schramm A, Lau EF, Schlafer S. Determinants of Microscale pH in In Situ-Grown Dental Biofilms. J Dent Res. 2023 Nov;102(12):1348-1355.