Center for Innovation & Precision Dentistry

Creating oral health innovations by leveraging emerging engineering approaches

CiPD unites Dental Medicine and Engineering for new collaborations in research, training, and entrepreneurship

Working together to make new discoveries, train future leaders and create affordable solutions

Center for Innovation & Precision Dentistry Positions Penn as a Leader in Engineering Health

In the two years since the cross-disciplinary research partnership was founded, CiPD has introduced microrobots that clean teeth, a new understanding of microbial physics in tooth decay, and promising futures for plant biotechnology and lipid nanoparticles in dental plaque and oral cancer treatment.

Learn more in the recent press release from Penn Today>>

Read more at Penn Engineering Today>>

Access the published editorial in the Journal of Dental Research>>

Center for Innovation & Precision Dentistry Positions Penn as a Leader in Engineering Health

Transforming the Future of Oral Health Care

Mission CIPD

3rd Annual CiPD Symposium, May 30, 2024

The program will feature the latest research by CiPD faculty, trainees, and fellows. Join us to learn about emerging applications, from craniofacial and tissue regeneration to oral microbiomes using advanced materials, nano/biotechnology, mRNA, AI and robotics.

3rd Annual CiPD Symposium, May 30, 2024

The CiPD is bridging Penn Dental Medicine and Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences with cutting-edge research and training to accelerate the development of new solutions and devices to address unmet needs in oral health, while also recruiting the next generation of leaders in these fields.

The CiPD bridges basic/translational researchers and clinicians with engineers and data scientists working in diverse fields. Their work ranges from robotics, AI and nanotechnology to diagnose and control oral diseases to developing a plant-based platform for affordable therapeutics. While biofilm microbiomes and regeneration of craniofacial tissues are being assessed using 3D bioprinting and organ-on-a-chip platforms.

The CiPD provides funding opportunities to study disease mechanisms and to accelerate innovative diagnostic and therapeutic solutions. Current programs include Pilot Fund and Fellowship Awards with topics ranging from COVID-19 and Artificial Intelligence in Dentistry to Oral Health Care Devices.

By leveraging the expertise in dental medicine and engineering sciences, the CiPD will train the next generation dentists, engineers and scientists with interdisciplinary skills. The training program focuses on mechanistic understanding of oral diseases/craniofacial disorders, precision diagnostics and affordable therapies targeted to susceptible populations.

NIDCR T90/R90 Postdoctoral Training Program »

Learn more about the CiPD Core Members, our postdoctoral trainees, and our partners »

Support

A gift to the Center for Innovation & Precision Dentistry accelerates research into new tools to diagnose, treat and prevent diseases and otherwise address unmet oral health needs. There are various ways to make a contribution, including online.

Learn more and make a gift

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News & Events

Robotics for Healthcare: Announcing The Mack Institute Partnership with Penn Dental’s Center for Innovation & Precision Dentistry

The Mack Institute and Penn Dental’s Center for Innovation & Precision Dentistry (CiPD) kicked off a collaborative research project exploring potential uses of nanorobot technology for oral health care. The interdisciplinary partnership brings together three students from different Penn and Wharton programs to study the commercialization of a new technology that detects and removes harmful dental plaque.

Dr. Dennis Sourvanos Receives ADA Foundation Crest and Oral-B Promising Researcher Award

Dr. Dennis Sourvanos (GD23, DScD’23), an NIDCR postdoctoral trainee at Penn Dental Medicine, is the recipient of the American Dental Association (ADA) Foundation 2023 Crest and Oral-B Promising Researcher Award. This supports Dr. Sourvanos’ multidisciplinary, translational preclinical research, which has developed new investigative avenues in Photobiomodulation light therapy.

CiPD Fellows Recognized with Research Awards

Members of the inaugural cohort of fellows in the Center for Innovation and Precision Dentistry (CiPD)’s NIDCR T90/R90 Postdoctoral Training Program have been recognized for their research activities with fellows receiving awards from the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR), the Society for Biomaterials, and the Osteology Foundation.

Bacteria and Fungi Can ‘Walk’ across the Surface of Our Teeth

Clusters of bacteria and fungi seem to be capable of complex movement, setting tooth decay in motion. Most of us would rather not think about the cavity-causing microbes infesting our mouths. They coat our teeth, eat the same sugars we do and excrete acids that carve holes in our enamel. And the complete picture is even grosser. A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA shows that conglomerations of fungi and bacteria can work together to “walk” and “leap” across the surface of teeth, spreading decay much faster than either organism alone.

CiPD-Colgate Fellowship Advancing Research, Supporting Rising Clinician Scientists

The Center for Innovation & Precision Dentistry (CiPD)-Colgate Fellowship is advancing research and continuing to support the development of clinicians scientists at Penn Dental Medicine. Since its launch in 2017, there have been four recipients of the Fellowship. Funded by the Colgate-Palmolive Company, the Fellowship provides financial support to students engaged in postdoctoral research studies at Penn Dental Medicine and Penn Engineering focused on childhood dental caries and novel anti-biofilm approaches to promote oral health.

Nanorobotic system presents new options for targeting fungal infections

Researchers from Penn Dental and Penn Engineering have developed a new way to rapidly and precisely eradicate fungal infections in the mouth by using nanorobots guided by magnets.

More news »

CiPD

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