News + Events

Our very own MPWRM Resource Center Principal Investigator, Dr. Will Giannobile, is featured on the latest episode of “Legends” podcast. Dr. Giannobile’s journey from Missouri to his pioneering work in tissue engineering is explored, shedding light on the role of molecular growth factors and becoming dean of one of the most prestigious dental schools in the world. Dr. Giannobile talks about the transformative shifts in periodontal treatment, health economics, and the imminent role of AI in shaping the future of dentistry.

Organoids have now been created from stem cells to secrete the proteins that form dental enamel, the substance that protects teeth from damage and decay. A multi-disciplinary team of scientists from the University of Washington in Seattle led this effort.

“This is a critical first step to our long-term goal to develop stem cell-based treatments to repair damaged teeth and regenerate those that are lost,” said Hai Zhang, professor of restorative dentistry at the UW School of Dentistry and one of the co-authors of the paper describing the research. Click to read more.

Across the lifespan, there is a strong connection between dental health and overall health. But the nature of that connection — the specific challenges and risks — changes over time. An infographic from CareQuest Institute summarizes research on these connections, from pregnancy through older adulthood.

ITP PI, Luiz Bertassoni, Head of Lab Where Oregon Scientists are 3D Printing Their Way to a Healthier Future for us All

MPWRM Resource Center and DOCTRC highlighted in the keynote talk at NIDCR’s 75th anniversary event, NIDCR at 75: Celebrating the Past, Charting the Future

Watch recording here

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) has issued its much-anticipated SBIR Contract Solicitation. See below for topic areas. Some topics are only Direct to Phase II while others are FastTrack. Phase I proposals will not be accepted. The solicitation invites proposals in the following areas:

• ARPA-H 01 – Novel telehealth instruments for assessing pediatric well-being.
• ARPA-H 02 – Microneedle-based patches and digital patch interfaces for remote and real-time transdermal drug delivery and chronic disease management.
• ARPA-H 03 – Robotics for autonomous soft tissue surgery.
• ARPA-H 04 – Intra-operative contrast agents.
• ARPA-H 05 – Scale-Up: Transition disruptive technologies from proof-of-concept prototypes to commercially scalable and deployable technologies.

Deadline for questions: June 12
Deadline for receipt: July 3

RevBio Receives ISO 13485 Certification for its Quality Management System

ITP PI, Luiz Bertassoni, Head of Lab Where Oregon Scientists are 3D Printing Their Way to a Healthier Future for us All

ITP Principal Investigator, Dr. Pamela Yelick (Tufts University) was named fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest scientific society! Congratulations! Check out the news release from Tufts University on this announcement.

NSF: Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI)

Open: January 16, 2023

Proposal Due: February 21, 2023

Program Guidelines: NSF 23-519

The Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program (MRI Program Website) serves to increase access to multi-user scientific and engineering instrumentation for research and research training in our Nation’s institutions of higher education and not-for-profit scientific/engineering research organizations.

Don’t miss the Monday, January 30 deadline to apply for the following

• AADOCR Student Research Fellowships – January 30, 2023
• IADR Innovation in Oral Care Award – January 30, 2023
• IADR Osteology Foundation New Investigator Award in Oral Tissue Regeneration  –   January 30, 2023
• IADR Smile Train Cleft Research Award – January 30, 2023

Preventing muscle atrophy – Harvard scientists have developed an adhesive that makes muscles move.

One of our ITP teams, Ostiio, LLC, has been awarded a National Institute of Health (NIH) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant for $300,000 to advance research & development of their smart, fully subcutaneous distraction system. This award, building on the work previously supported by the ITP and NSF, is aimed to demonstrate that a miniaturized implant continues to achieve clinically defined expansion force requirements in an expanded set of use cases. Congratulations!

Bioengineers have developed a mechanically active adhesive named MAGENTA, which functions as a soft robotic device able to extend and contract muscles from the outside. In an animal model, MAGENTA successfully prevented and supported the recovery from muscle atrophy.

“Osteoporotic fractures greatly reduce quality of life, and immobilization following a fracture can lead to further bone loss, which puts patients at risk for breaking another bone. To help patients recover quicker, RevBio developed a potential new therapeutic device, a patented bone adhesive called Tetranite®, that promotes bone growth. In an investigation launching on SpaceX’s 26th Commercial Resupply Services mission (SpaceX CRS-26), the company will examine how well Tetranite® works to regenerate new bone during spaceflight.”

Check out the podcast, “The Next ReGeneration”. On the third episode, Daniel Thoma talks about the highly controversial topic of preclinical research, how it has changed over time, where there is still value in conducting preclinical research, and where it has been replaced.

“Amend Surgical, Inc., an Alachua-based medical device company, announced today that it has finalized a funding agreement with the Institute for Commercialization of Florida Technology (the Florida Institute) along with being awarded a substantial product development funding from The Michigan-Pittsburgh-Wyss Regenerative Medicine (MPWRM) Resource Center.”

Our Partner at C-DOCTOR, Bridget Samuels, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, presented Dental, Oral & Craniofacial Tissue Regeneration Consortium (DOCTRC)” at the hybrid 51st Annual Meeting & Exhibition of the AADOCR, held in conjunction with the 46th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research (CADR), online and onsite in Atlanta, GA, on March 24, 2022.

Americans’ oral health has improved over the last two decades, but disparities in oral health have stubbornly persisted and pose a major global public health threat, write National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) Director Rena N. D’Souza, D.D.S., Ph.D., Acting Science Advisor to the President and former National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., and U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, M.D., M.B.A., in a new perspective published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

ITP team GreenMark Biomedical secures follow-on investment of $830,000 in equity financing in the form of convertible notes in anticipation of a Series A financing in 2022. Congratulations!

ITP PI, Dr. Steve Little selected as a member of the 2021 Fellow class of the National Academy of Inventors, the highest professional distinction accorded to academic inventors. Congratulations!

Mark your calendars and join us for the first DOCTRC Innovator Networking Series event on Oct 26, 2021, 3PM Eastern.

Congratulations to ITP GreenMark Biomedical! GreenMark was recognized as a2021 Best of Class Technology Award Winner!

JDR and IADR highlight the Special Issue: Interface Between Materials and Oral Biology, featuring an article by the MPWRM Resource Center. Click here for the JDR interview with Resource Center PI Dr. David Kohn.