This application is a NIDCR National Research Service Award Institutional Research Training Grant application from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Dentistry (SOD). This comprehensive research-training program is focused on development of an innovative, integrated, multi-disciplinary approach to produce a cadre of well-trained, skilled, collaborative scientists and clinician scientists that are capable of addressing critical dental, oral and craniofacial research issues. We have named our training program: Dental Academic Research Training - DART. This program is a culmination of our successful NIDCR T32 Research Training programs (Post-doctoral Training in Oral Health T32-DE14300 &Post-Doctoral Training in Caries Research T32-DE007026) and a Short-Term Research Training for Health Professional Students grant (T35DK07545) funded for over thirty years. The experience gained through these various training activities has lead to an innovative program designed to enhance the interest of dentists, graduate students and dental students in basic and clinical research, and introduce students to dental academic careers. The DART Program offers four complementary training tracks: Track I- Short-term dental student;Track II- DMD/PhD;Track III- Pre-doctoral PhD;and Track IV- Post-doctoral training with two emphasis lines: 1) a traditional post-doctoral experience;and 2) a Masters of Science degree in Public Health in Clinical Research program. Research training will be provided in one of the SOD's programmatic research theme foci: biomaterials and tissue engineering;microbiology and immunology;craniofacial developmental biology and genetics;and public health and clinical research. The primary objective of this new NIDCR National Research Service Award Institutional Research Training Grant application is to provide a broadened interdisciplinary research experience in Year 1 for 18 exceptionally motivated trainees in a research-intensive academic university environment: 8 short-term dental students, 3 Dental Scientist Training Program (DSTP) students, 3 Predoctoral PhD students, and 4 postdoctoral trainees. The UAB SOD is uniquely position to provide research training since we are the only dental school that has obtained NIDCR U24 Research Infrastructure (DE016449), U01 Practice-based Research Network (DE016747) and R25 Research Curriculum (DE015614) grants.
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