BIOMATERIALS PHD TRAINING FOR DENTISTS -- UMKC

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This application is in response to RFA DE-95-007 and a resubmission of training grant T32DE07233-01. The overall goal of this institutional Research Service Award is to prepare dentists for careers in biomaterials research and academics. Emphasis has been added to train at least two of the eight candidates in clinical research methods. Specifically, the goals of the program are to prepare trainees to: 1) use the scientific method through appropriate coursework, grant applications, and supervised research; 2) contribute to the dental profession, the scientific community and the public through basic science and clinical research; and 3) hold academic and/or leadership positions in dental schools, research centers, or dental related industry. The students in the training program will be educated in a progressive research environment complemented by a program project grant titled "Improved Polymeric Restoratives Through Molecular Design" (NIDR DE09696, PI: J.D. Eick). This program project grant is currently in its fifth year of funding. Student recruitment activities will be national in scope and special efforts will be made to attract women and minority students. Over the 5 year grant period, eight students will be selected and will complete a Ph.D. through the interdisciplinary doctoral program. The program, outlined in this proposal, is three years in length (a minimum of 65 hours) and is composed of a significant supervised research effort along with 28 hours of required or selective courses in such areas as dental biomaterials, research design, clinical research methodology, statistics, grantsmanship, biochemistry, histology, and pathology. The primary didactic effort will be in oral biology (dental biomaterials) and the student will select a secondary area of concentration from one of the following areas: 1) polymer chemistry, 2) surface chemistry, 3) surface physics, 4) materials science and engineering, and 5) toxicology. The faculty members include the Program Director and eleven doctoral faculty. The application of material techniques and analyses to a broad spectrum of fundamental problems in the use and application of dental biomaterials provides the underlying theme for the research experience. The major focus of the research experience is related to defining the formation, compatibility, structure, properties, and behavior of natural and synthetic restorative and replacement biomaterials for use within the oral cavity. Two of the postdoctoral trainees will devote their efforts specifically to clinical investigations. The clinical research experiences available to these trainees include human studies involving the biocompatibility/toxicology of dental biomaterials; fixed restorative clinical research; in vivo research with new non-shrinking adhesive composite systems; and Hg toxicity studies in children.