The long-term objective of the Penn Multidisciplinary Consortium (PMC), specifically the Dental, Oral, Craniofacial Tissue Resource Center (DOCTRC) at Penn, is to enable rapid translation of tissue engineered and regenerative medicine (TE/RM) products via preclinical and clinical pipeline to address a broad spectrum of fundamental clinical needs in the reconstruction of the injured or dysfunctional orofacial complex sustained by ablative surgery, trauma and warfare. We capitalize on the University of Pennsylvania's great institutional strengths, including established translational research institutes, their geographic proximity linking the interdisciplinary schools within one city block, and a collaborative, integrated environment that allows faculty, researchers and practicing clinicians to transcend disciplines with research, technology, and patient care, specifically to develop safe, predictive and effective clinical strategies for regeneration of functional tissues o the human DOC complex. The following objectives are proposed: 1) To establish a robust DOCTRC infrastructure and effectively streamline translational research pipeline supported by several key translational and clinical research institutes, centers, and inter-disciplinary schools 2) To organize integrated Working Groups to specifically define and address the clinical needs of patients sustaining injuries to the craniofacial tissues, ablative surgery, and trauma; 3) To strategize development of innovative Interdisciplinary Translational Projects synergizing with the expertise of the PMC; and 4) To facilitate communication of research results, data and methods within the consortium and outreach to the research and healthcare community, and to the industry, to safely, rapidly and effectively translate TE/RM products to clinics Significance: The Planning grant will allow the development of an effective supporting infrastructure and organizational team to facilitate and catalyze the translation of TE/RM candidate products from pre-clinical studies to effective clinical strategies for regeneration of functional tissues of the human DOC complex.
