Research

Changing lives through dental research

At the Indiana University School of Dentistry, we are deeply committed to advancing oral health through impactful research that transforms lives. Our efforts are strategically focused in four key areas: bone and regenerative medicine, dental community health, dental informatics, and cariology. With a record-breaking level of federal funding in the school’s history, faculty researchers are making significant strides in uncovering connections between oral health and systemic diseases such as Sjögren’s syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease, leveraging cutting-edge technologies in molecular biology and informatics. With this momentum, IUSD is poised to lead the next generation of discoveries that will redefine the future of oral and systemic health care.

We are an integral player in the invention of fluoride toothpaste, one of the most significant public health advancements in human history.

Our research areas

Our faculty are also actively engaged in federally and privately funded research areas such as bone/regenerative medicine, dental public health, and dental informatics. We perform research activities in dental material, dental implants, oral and systemic health relation, and others.

Areas of focus

Research through clinical trials

Volunteers play an important role in helping our researchers develop new and improved dental treatments and better ways to provide dental care. Benefits from participation may include free dental examinations and cleanings, and most studies involve payment for your time.

Volunteer for a clinical trial

Oral Health Research Institute

Founded from the successful creation of the world’s first fluoride toothpaste, the Oral Health Research Institute at Indiana University School of Dentistry is a globally recognized center for oral health care research and product testing. Our clinical and laboratory research cores and facilities support a wide range of studies, including dental caries and erosive tooth wear diagnosis and management, anti-plaque and anti-gingivitis agents, anti-calculus agents, stain prevention and removal agents, and whitening/bleaching agents.

See how we impact Oral Health

Involving students in research

Leveraging our active faculty research activities, we are committed to continuing to develop new generations of dental health researchers. We have a well-established student research fellowship program, highlighted with our annual Research Day to engage all students in research. If you’re a student or researcher aspiring to expand your investigation or a private company looking for product testing, we’re excited to share our experience and specialized research facilities with you.

Student research

About the Office of Research in the IU School of Dentistry

Vision

The IU School of Dentistry’s Office of Research seeks to improve the oral health of Indiana’s citizens as well as the broader national and world community by advancing knowledge through discoveries and improvements focused on the prevention and cure of dental disease and the maintenance of health.

Purpose

Improve the quality and increase the quantity of research within the IU School of Dentistry in the following areas:

  • Basic science
  • Translational research
  • Clinical trials
  • Epidemiology/outcomes research

Mission

Our mission is to foster, enhance and promote high quality research within the Indiana University School of Dentistry. Through its support of high-quality research, the Office of Research will assist the school with meeting its mission goals of excellence in patient care, education, research, and community service as well as expanding the financial base in support of basic science research.

Functions

We facilitate research by providing administrative support to all School of Dentistry faculty and students and ensure compliance with all relevant internal and external policies and regulations.

  • We develop resources and systems for faculty, departments, and centers and programs in the conduct of laboratory and human investigation.
  • We oversee compliance review board submissions, including informed consent preparation and regulatory documentation preparation and maintenance.
  • We provide grant assistance such as proposal preparation, budget development, proposal submissions, and post-award guidance, electronic proposal download, and submission.
  • We manage industrial relations.
  • We assist with electronic proposal download, preparation, and submission.
  • We handle account management and reporting.

We foster growth in basic, laboratory, and clinical research and build new areas of collaboration with basic, laboratory, and clinical scientists by establishing an industrial relations unit to present our broad capabilities to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies as well as state and federal agencies and private foundations.

  • We facilitate faculty communication to further enhance School of Dentistry research capabilities and translational collaborative work within the university, other state institutions, foundations, and corporations.
  • We market School of Dentistry capabilities and identify funding sources.

We provide an effective interface between investigators and university administration:

  • IU Office of Research Administration (proposal submission, contract negotiation, financial oversight, material transfer, and confidentiality agreements)
  • Innovation and Commercialization Office (intellectual property issues, etc.)
  • IU Indianapolis Vice Chancellor for Research
  • IU Office of Clinical Research
  • IU Office of Research Compliance (human subjects and IRB, animal care, biosafety, conflict of interest, export control, research integrity)

We develop and conduct clinical research educational programs for investigators, coordinators and support staff, including graduate and undergraduate students.

Office of Research administration and grant-related support

Dr. Tien-Min Gabriel Chu is the IU School of Dentistry’s associate dean for research. As the chief advocate for the school’s research enterprise internally and externally, the associate dean facilitates faculty research collaborations to further enhance the school’s research capabilities.

Administrative support staff serve as a resource for other School of Dentistry faculty and administrative assistants. Their duties include: packaging and processing submissions and awards, monitoring the research financials, providing investigators with monthly reconciliation of their external and internal research accounts, employee appointment and payroll, research protocol preparation, study coordination, regulatory support, IRB submissions, ordering and processing, and biostatistics support. They have a reputation in the school for being user friendly, knowledgeable, efficient, and effective.

The Office of Research maintains its own statisticians. They provide biostatistical services for student projects and for faculty pilot projects at no additional cost to the researcher or to the school.

In line with the mission of IU’s Office of Research Administration, the function of the IU School of Dentistry Division of Clinical Research Support and Compliance is to ensure optimal conduct of human research within the framework of institutional policies and federal regulations and to facilitate and increase ethical research productivity. All student researchers receive good clinical practice training from division personnel and all student research studies are reviewed. In addition, while not mandatory, several School of Dentistry faculty take advantage of this division’s services to oversee their clinical trials.

Principal Investigators