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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 and create feasible solutions to address the unmet needs in oral health

Save the Date: 2nd Annual CiPD Symposium, June 1, 2023

Join us for the 2nd Annual Symposium, Dentists, Scientists & Engineers Transforming Oral Health, as presenters share how they are to advancing oral health innovation at the intersection of dental medicine and engineering.

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Save the Date: 2nd Annual CiPD Symposium, June 1, 2023

Transforming the Future of Oral Health Care

The CiPD leverages engineering and computational approaches to discover new knowledge for disease mitigation, develop affordable diagnostics and therapies, and train future leaders to advance oral & craniofacial health care.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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 »

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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.

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News & Events

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.

Four Penn Dental Medicine Faculty Issued Patents in FY22

Penn Dental Medicine faculty members were recognized for their research and innovation as part of the Penn Center for Innovation’s (PCI) 7th annual Celebration of Innovation. This annual event celebrates Penn researchers and innovators who were named as inventors on patents issued to Penn this past fiscal year and highlights significant commercialization achievements. The celebration was held December 6 at the Singh Center for Nanotechnology. Those Penn Dental Medicine faculty issued patents in FY22 included CiPD's Dr. Henry Daniell, Vice Chair and W.D. Miller Professor, Dept. of Basic & Translational Sciences and Dr. Michel Koo, Professor, Dept. of Orthodontics and Divs. of Pediatrics and Community Oral Health.

Dr. Zhi Ren Awarded the 2022 American Society for Microbiology Best ECS Presentation Award

Dr. Zhi Ren, a current NIDCR R90 postdoctoral trainee within the Center for Innovation & Precision Dentistry (CiPD) – Penn Dental Medicine’s collaborative center with Penn Engineering — was awarded the 2022 American Society for Microbiology (ASM)’s Early Career Symposium (ECS) Best Presentation Award.

Dr. Michel Koo Named a 2022 Highly Cited Researcher

Dr. Michel Koo, Penn Dental Medicine Professor, Department of Orthodontics, Division of Community Oral Health, Division of Pediatric Dentistry and Co-Founding Director of the Center for Innovation & Precision Dentistry (CiPD), has been recognized for the scope and depth of his research — named on the Highly Cited Researchers™ 2022 list from Clarivate in the microbiology category.

Dr. Dennis Sourvanos Awarded the 2022 American Society for Photobiology Frederick Urbach Student Travel Award

Penn Dental Medicine postdoctoral student Dr. Dennis Sourvanos, (GD’23, DScD’23) was awarded the 2022 American Society for Photobiology (ASP) Frederick Urbach Student Travel Award, enabling him to present his research at the ASP Biennial Meeting, held in Albuquerque, NM, this fall.

A group from the University of Pennsylvania used SIS stem cells derived from gingival tissue to treat transected facial nerve and sciatic nerve crush injuries in rats

Current interventions are limited in their ability to stimulate regeneration and functional recovery of severe injuries, lending to the need for better treatment options. It is known that Schwann cells and macrophages in the local injury microenvironment play critical roles in nerve repair and regeneration following injury, so one promising treatment strategy may focus on a means to manipulate the plastic phenotype of the macrophage into the pro-regenerative (M2) phenotype and away from the pro-inflammatory (M1) phenotype.

Creepy Crawlies on the Teeth

This creeping creature did not walk out of a sci-fi film—it actually plays a starring role in the mouth. It’s composed of cavity-causing bacteria (green) that piggyback on fungi (blue), forming superorganisms with unusual powers—“walking” and “lunging” on tooth-like surfaces.

Dentistry: An Oral History of Disruption

Michel Koo, Co-Director and Co-Founder of CiPD, is featured in the episode of the Trailblazers with Walter Isaacson Podcast, "Dentistry: An Oral History of Disruption." Now, researchers, engineers, and business founders are developing new forms of dental treatments and tools to make quality dental care more accessible and affordable and even create truly regenerative and preventative solutions. Hear all about these innovations on this toothsome episode of Trailblazers.

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The Robert Schattner Center, University of Pennsylvania, School of Dental Medicine 240 South 40th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6030