Concept Clearances

May 2025

Advancement of Causal Hypotheses for Human Behaviors that Affect Dental, Oral, Craniofacial, and Oral-Systemic Health Outcomes

The main objective of this concept is to stimulate research that advances or edifies causal hypotheses on biological, biopsychosocial, congenital, environmental, interpersonal, psychological, and comorbidity factors that individually, sequentially, or synergistically give rise to human behavior affecting dental, oral, craniofacial, and oral-systemic health outcomes, as well as the overall well-being of people with dental, oral, and craniofacial conditions.

STAFF CONTACT: Bill Elwood

Reissue: NIDCR Mentoring Networks for Early-Career Investigators: Advancing Research Careers through Mentoring Networks

The goal of this concept is to facilitate structured interactions among investigators (mentors) who are committed to mentoring early career faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students (mentees) to enhance the mentees’ grant writing skills, professional development, and successful pursuit of research careers in biomedical, clinical, behavioral, and social sciences. In alignment with the NIH directive to reduce the number of Notices of Funding Opportunities, this NOFO will be revised for use by other NIH institutes. Although this concept will allow the mentoring of graduate students, NIDCR intends to focus its resources on mentoring postdocs and early career faculty.

STAFF CONTACT: Michele McGuirl

Reissue: Institutional Research Training for a Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research Workforce

The goal of the T90/R90 concept is to strengthen and sustain a robust biomedical research workforce. Institutional training programs provide an entry into a research career pathway, a full-time research experience under a qualified mentor, a cohort of trainees providing peer mentoring, and a foundation of research and career development experiences to ensure successful research career progression and transition to an independent research career. In alignment with the NIH directive to reduce the number of Notices of Funding Opportunities, this NOFO will be revised for use by other NIH institutes. NIDCR plans to use the T90/R90 to strengthen its biomedical research workforce dedicated to improving dental, oral, and craniofacial health.

STAFF CONTACT: Michele McGuirl

September 2024

Dental Primary Care Practice-Based Research Network to Support Research in Clinical Practices

The goal of this concept is to transform and advance practice-based research by endorsing a Dental Primary Care Practice-Based Research Network (PBRN), building upon knowledge gained and lessons learned from the previous and current NIDCR-supported dental PBRNs. Research studies conducted in participating dental clinical practices (offices/clinics), with consenting patients, help to expand the profession’s evidence base and further refine care. This new concept will promote an efficient and agile network, focused on integrating oral health care into whole patient care and able to implement research on important oral health topics in a variety of practice settings and locations.

STAFF CONTACT: Dena Fischer

Digital Twins for Advancing Innovation and Optimizing Clinical Outcomes in Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial (DOC) Medicine

The goal of this concept is to revolutionize dental, oral, and craniofacial medicine through the development and deployment of fit-for-purpose digital twin technologies. By creating dynamic virtual replicas of patient anatomy, biological systems, clinical scenarios, and predictive testing capabilities, this program aims to catalyze the development and translation of new innovations and optimize treatment planning and care delivery. These advancements will significantly improve patient outcomes by enabling more accurate predictions, optimizing intervention plans, and facilitate continuous adjustments based on patient-specific data.

STAFF CONTACTS: Orlando Lopez, Noffisat Oki

Community Engaged Research to Advance Oral Health Intervention Models for HIV/AIDS Populations

The objective of this concept is to support community-engaged research projects to enhance cost-effectiveness and quality of HIV/AIDS and oral health intervention models for populations living with HIV/AIDS or at risk for acquiring HIV in the United States. This concept encourages proposing research in partnership with the target population/community and leveraging existing efforts and resources (e.g., AIDS Research Community Engagement Cores, advisory groups, and/or relevant community-based organizations) for sustainability and impact of the research.

STAFF CONTACT: Hiroko Iida

LINKS: NOT-DE-25-049, NOT-DE-26-005

Integration of Medically Necessary Prevention, Treatment, and Monitoring of Oncologic-Related Oral, Dental, and Craniofacial Complications

The objective of this concept is to encourage translational and clinical research that advances the integration of medically necessary oral, maxillofacial, and medical approaches to reduce dental, oral, and craniofacial-related complications among oncology patients. This concept also promotes research that builds new evidence aligned with recent changes in Medicare policies to reduce coverage gaps in dental services inextricably linked to the clinical success of medical oncology services.

STAFF CONTACT: Lorena Baccaglini

Modulating the Microbiome Towards Health

This concept seeks to encourage focused efforts for development of microbiome directed therapies for oral diseases. Dysbiosis of the oral microbiome is a core step in the development of periodontitis, caries, and oral cancers. Maintenance of a healthy oral microbiome involves a balancing act of retaining commensal, health-associated microbiota in order to restrain growth of opportunistic and acquired pathogens. Directly modulating the oral microbiome offers advantages such as reduced reliance on antimicrobials, longer lasting impact through establishment of health-related organisms, and positive effects on systemic disease outside of the oral cavity.

STAFF CONTACT: Tamara McNealy

May 2024

 Advancing Precision Imaging for Enhanced Diagnosis and Treatment of Oral Lesions

The goal of this concept is to enhance the accuracy, detection, diagnosis, and personalized treatment of oral lesions and inflammatory processes using advanced imaging technologies. By integrating cutting-edge imaging modalities into clinical workflows, optimizing lesion detection methods, and refining single-cell analysis, this concept seeks to bridge existing gaps in precision imaging for oral diseases. Through collaborative research efforts, this concept strives to accelerate the translation of breakthrough discoveries in imaging into clinical applications, ultimately advancing the management of acute and chronic oral health conditions and improving patient outcomes.

STAFF CONTACTS: Zhong Chen, Orlando Lopez

LINK: NOT-DE-25-034

January 2024

Reissue: NIDCR Small Grant Program for New Investigators

The objective of this concept is to provide research support for scientists who are in the early stages of establishing their independent research careers in dental, oral, and craniofacial research. This program supports pilot or feasibility studies and developmental research projects with the intention of obtaining enough preliminary data for a subsequent investigator-initiated Research Project Grant (R01) or equivalent applications.

STAFF CONTACT: Scott Verbridge

LINK: PAR-25-105

September 2023

 Accelerating Product Excellence in Innovation and for Clinical Adoption (APEx)

The overall objective of APEx is to power the engine to accelerate preclinical product development through innovation, commercialization, and clinical adoption. The focus will be on therapeutics, sensors, and diagnostics in tissue healing and regeneration in the context of congenital defects, acute injury, chronic disease, and age-related degeneration. Synergies with other preclinical research efforts are encouraged.

STAFF CONTACT: Scott Verbridge

LINK: NOT-DE-26-006

Advancing HIV/AIDS and Oral Health Research

The objective of this concept is to solicit innovative and multidisciplinary basic, translational, and clinical research on HIV/AIDS that is relevant to dental, oral, and craniofacial health. The goal is to advance research on HIV-related comorbidities, co-infections, and complications (CCCs) in the oral cavity to guide early diagnosis and development of highly efficient prevention and therapeutic strategies for CCCs and enhance oral and overall health of populations living with HIV/AIDS or at risk for acquiring HIV.

STAFF CONTACT: Hiroko Iida

LINK: NOT-DE-25-038

Bacteriophage Therapy: Tipping the Balance to Oral Health

The goal of this concept is to encourage research to better understand bacteriophage biology in the oral cavity and to support eventual development of therapeutics. Despite the high abundance of bacteriophage in the oral cavity, they continue to be overlooked as mediators of health and disease. An increased understanding of the role of bacteriophage in the oral cavity could lead to the development and use of phage therapy.

STAFF CONTACT: Tamara McNealy

LINK: NOT-DE-24-014

Community-Based Participatory Research Consortium: Advancing DAta and Practice Transformation (ADAPT) for Oral Health for All

The objective of this concept is three-fold: 1) to solicit research projects using community-based participatory approaches to design, implement, and evaluate population-based intervention strategies for optimizing oral health in target populations; 2) to create two research hubs specializing in community engagement and data coordination and management; and 3) to form a research consortium, ADAPT, that collaborates with Science Collaborative for Health and Artificial Intelligence Reduction of Errors (SCHARE), in the data ecosystem. The overarching goal of ADAPT is to accelerate progress toward oral health for all people through collaborative community-based intervention projects and data mining.

STAFF CONTACT: Hiroko Iida

LINKS: NOT-DE-25-049, NOT-DE-26-005

Determining the Tri-directional Relationship Between Oral Health, Nutrition, and Comprehensive Health

The purpose of this concept is to support research to better understand the mechanisms of the tri-directional relationship between nutrition, systemic health, and dental, oral, and craniofacial health, and to develop nutritional interventions for the dental setting.

STAFF CONTACT: Margaret Grisius

LINK: NOT-DE-24-011

Reissue: NIDCR Mentoring Networks for Underrepresented and Early-Career Investigators

The goal of this concept is to facilitate and provide opportunities for structured interactions among investigators who are committed to mentoring postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty who are underrepresented in the biomedical, behavioral, and social sciences to enhance the mentees’ grant writing skills, professional development, and successful pursuit of dental, oral, and craniofacial research careers.

LINK: PAR-24-104

Organs-on-a-Chip in Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (DOC-OoCs)

This concept seeks to advance the validation of organ-on-a-chip toward disease modelling and pre-clinical efficacy studies in dental, oral, and craniofacial research. It is expected that outcomes will advance the use of validated, reproducible, three-dimensional microfluidic systems into the framework of clinical trials, with demonstrated usefulness as new approach methodologies for DOC clinical research. An essential feature will be a multidisciplinary approach including experts in DOC biology and clinical science, pathology, microfluidics, bioengineering, materials science, computational biology, pharmacology, and biostatistics.

STAFF CONTACT: Preethi Chander

LINKS: RFA-DE-25-001, RFA-DE-25-002

May 2023

 Renewal of NIDCR FaceBase Program

The overall goal of this concept is to seek renewal of the FaceBase Program to support a state-of-the-art public repository of dental, oral, and craniofacial research and clinical data. The funded repository is expected to recruit, transform, and publicly share research and clinical data that covers the full translational spectrum in specific DOC areas identified by NIDCR. The goal is to enable and accelerate data-driven efforts in knowledge discovery, translation of knowledge gained into health and health care solutions, and the delivery of those solutions.

STAFF CONTACT: Alicia Chou

LINK: PAR-23-237

January 2023

 Reissue: NIDCR Prospective Observational or Biomarker Validation Study Cooperative Agreement

The goal of this concept is to provide investigators with the support necessary to conduct prospective cohort studies or biomarker validation studies to help contribute to knowledge gaps in the pathophysiology of disease and/or pathways for treatment.

STAFF CONTACT: Lorena Baccaglini

LINK: PAR-25-239

September 2022

Chronic Inflammation of the Oral Cavity – An Agent for Oral Mucosal Disease

The goal of this concept is to encourage interdisciplinary research investigating the mechanisms driving chronic inflammation and its relationship with the physiology of the oral cavity, including oral manifestations of chronic systemic diseases. Chronic inflammation can create a heightened state that contributes to serious health conditions within the oral cavity. This concept will encourage studies focusing on the mechanisms of chronic inflammation as they relate to onset and/or progression of oral diseases. This concept excludes studies on microbial dysbiosis that results as a consequence of infection.

STAFF CONTACTS: Preethi Chander, Tamara McNealy

LINK: NOT-DE-23-007

Apply Data Science in Translational Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research

This concept seeks to promote research and support research training and career development in utilization and development of state-of-the-art data science resources, methods, data standards, and tools in biomedical and behavioral dental, oral, and craniofacial research spanning the full translational continuum for identification of disease prevention and treatment targets, and translation of discoveries into evidence-based clinical applications. It encourages applications from talents active in and outside DOC research, and disease-agnostic areas.

STAFF CONTACT: Noffisat Oki

LINK: NOT-DE-23-002

Collaborative Science to Achieve Disruptive Innovations in Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research

The objective of this concept is to support highly integrated research teams in addressing challenging questions with the potential to significantly advance dental, oral, and craniofacial fields of research. Each project should have a unified and well-defined scientific goal within the NIDCR mission that requires a team with varied perspectives and expertise in a range of intellectual or technical areas and is beyond the experience and capabilities of one or two investigators. Collaborative program teams are expected to accomplish goals that require considerable synergy and managed team interactions.

STAFF CONTACT: Tamara McNealy

LINKS: RFA-DE-24-003, RFA-DE-25-004, TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE WORKSHOP

Understanding Persistent Oral Human Papillomavirus and Human Immunodeficiency Virus co-infection and Its Role with Oropharyngeal Cancer Induction

The goal of this concept is to solicit research to better understand the mechanisms of persistent oral human papillomavirus (HPV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) co-infection as well as its role in the induction and pathogenesis of HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancers (HPV-OPC). NIDCR continues to collaborate with the National Cancer Institute in this concept to encourage multidisciplinary and innovative research that is critical to identify mechanistic targets related to HPV-OPC interventions and develop prevention and therapeutic strategies for oral HPV and HIV co-infection.

STAFF CONTACT: Hiroko Iida

LINKS: RFA-DE-24-001, RFA-DE-24-002

Developing Salivary Components to Restore Oral Health

The goal of this concept is to encourage interdisciplinary research that harnesses the functional components of saliva toward therapeutics. This concept will encourage studies to develop the salivary components to restore health and resilience of the oral cavity. It is expected that outcomes from this research will facilitate development of highly effective surrogate saliva for clinical applications. This concept is not focused on the development of salivary biomarkers or diagnostics.

STAFF CONTACT: Preethi Chander

LINKS: RFA-DE-24-004, RFA-DE-24-005

Maternal Health and the Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Health and Development of their Children

The purpose of this concept is to support research on prenatal environmental and physical stressors experienced by women during pregnancy that affect their child’s dental, oral, and craniofacial tissues through altered maternal physiology.

STAFF CONTACT: Margaret Grisius

LINK: NOT-DE-23-005

May 2022

NIH HEAL Initiative®: Oral Complications Arising from Pharmacotherapies to Treat Opioid Use Disorders

The NIH Helping to End Addiction Long-term® (HEAL) initiative supports research to enhance pain management and improve treatment for opioid misuse and addiction. The purpose of this concept is to solicit research to better understand the biology, natural history, and directionality of oral complications associated with pharmacotherapies used to treat opioid use disorders (OUDs). Additionally, this concept will support research addressing access to care and other challenges that may contribute to the onset and progression of dental and oral diseases in people with OUD, with a long-term goal of developing targeted preventive strategies for these individuals.

STAFF CONTACT: Dena Fischer

LINKS: RFA-DE-23-015, RFA-DE-23-016

January 2022

 Reissue: NIDCR Small Research Grants for Oral Health Data Analysis and Statistical Methodology Development

NIDCR supports a broad portfolio of studies, including clinical trials and large-scale epidemiologic research projects. Data from these studies can be leveraged to investigate additional research questions or develop and test new analytical approaches. These and other dental, oral, and craniofacial health data may also be integrated with other existing data sources (e.g., electronic medical records, pharmacy, claims data, emergency services, health and wellness measurements, economic data, additional laboratory data, registries, etc.). The goal of this concept is to provide investigators with the support necessary to conduct such secondary data analyses or develop statistical methods for analyzing DOC data utilizing existing databases.

STAFF CONTACTS: Lorena Baccaglini, Bill Elwood, Noffisat Oki

LINK: PAR-25-045

AHEAD (Advancing Head and Neck Cancer Early Detection Research)

The goal of this concept is to accelerate translation of research to improve early detection of head and neck cancers. This concept will encourage development, evaluation, and validation of biomarkers for risk assessment, detection, and molecular diagnosis and prognosis of early-stage head and neck cancers.

STAFF CONTACT: Zhong Chen

LINK: RFA-DE-23-013

TMD Collaborative for IMproving PAtient-Centered Translational Research (TMD IMPACT)

The goal of this concept is to accelerate research and treatment breakthroughs for temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) via the establishment of a national, interdisciplinary NIH-wide, patient-centered research consortium or network—the TMD IMPACT Collaborative. The TMD IMPACT Collaborative will advance TMD basic and clinical research, population-based and health services research, research training and education, and translation of findings into evidence-based treatments and improved clinical care.

STAFF CONTACT: Melissa Ghim

LINKS: RFA-DE-23-014, RFA-DE-25-003, TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE WEBINAR

September 2021

Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Research Workforce

The goal of this concept is to engage a broad range of stakeholders in developing a strategic framework to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the NIDCR dental, oral, and craniofacial research enterprise.

LINKS: NOT-DE-21-018, PAR-21-060 

Advancing HIV/AIDS Research at the Intersection of Mental and Oral Health

The objective of this concept is to seek interdisciplinary research to better understand the basic biologic, psychosocial, and behavioral factors and mechanisms that contribute to mental and oral health interactions in people living with HIV and help advance implementation science. This concept encourages multidimensional (e.g., cognitive/perceived, clinical, biological) assessment of mental and oral health, disease, symptoms, well-being and quality of life as well as the use of theoretical frameworks to build evidence on broad but precise aspects of the influences of mental health on oral health in the context of people living with HIV.

STAFF CONTACT: Hiroko Iida

LINKS: RFA-DE-23-002, RFA-DE-23-003

Characterizing Novel Mechanisms to Advance the Science of Behavior Change in Oral Health

The main objective of this concept is to stimulate research that characterizes and evaluates novel behavioral and social mechanisms of action relevant to dental and oral health, as well as the whole health and well-being of people with dental, oral, or craniofacial conditions.

STAFF CONTACT: Bill Elwood

LINK: NOT-DE-24-027

Data-Driven Tools to Accelerate the Clinical Translation of Novel Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Biomaterials

This concept aims to transform the future of dental, oral, and craniofacial care by unleashing the power of data-driven tools to fast-track the development and clinical translation of next-generation biomaterials. By tackling the root causes of R&D delays, regulatory hurdles, predictive limitations, and fragmented validation pathways, it reimagines how we bring safer, smarter, and more effective materials from lab to clinic. Leveraging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Devices and Radiological Health’s Medical Device Development Tools Program, this effort will deliver FDA-qualified tools that streamline decision-making, de-risk innovation, and inspire trust across sectors. It promotes interdisciplinary collaboration, strengthens workforce capacity at the convergence of cutting-edge biomaterials and data-driven approaches, and establishes a robust ecosystem of validated tools to drive safe, effective, and rapid biomaterials innovation.

STAFF CONTACT: Orlando Lopez

LINK: RFA-DE-23-006

The Functional Oral Microbiome

The goal of this concept is to encourage multi-dimensional and nuanced research that explores the interconnectedness and uniqueness of the oral microbiome community. This concept will encourage studies beyond the bacteriome to explore interkingdom microbial interactions and complex community systems and networks, in a physiologically relevant setting, to understand the role of community interactions in the maintenance of health and in driving transition to dysbiosis and disease in the oral cavity.

STAFF CONTACT: Tamara McNealy

LINK: NOT-DE-21-015

In Utero Treatments of Congenital Dental and Craniofacial Disorders Using Precision Medicine Approaches

This concept is intended to accelerate research using animal models and precision medicine approaches to develop in utero treatments for congenital dental and craniofacial disorders. The long-term goal is to lay the groundwork for delivery of in utero treatments in humans.

STAFF CONTACT: Zubaida Saifudeen

LINKS: RFA-DE-23-004, RFA-DE-23-005

Oral Health Promotion Using Technologies Outside the Dental Setting

The main goal of this concept is to encourage research that develops, adapts, and/or tests technology-facilitated behavioral, community, and organizational tools for use in oral health promotion outside of the dental clinic.

STAFF CONTACT: Jill Mattia

Reissue: NIDCR Dental Specialty and Ph.D. Program

The goal of this concept is to provide support for early career dentist-scientists who have recently completed their dental degree and are seeking advanced dental clinical training in a program accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation as well as mentored-research career development and research training leading to a Ph.D. in biomedical or behavioral science, or in another field applicable to dental, oral, and craniofacial research. The combined and integrated dental specialty and Ph.D. training program is intended to support a unique dentist-scientist research career pathway and to ensure a supportive environment for both advanced dental specialty and Ph.D. training.

STAFF CONTACT: Shoba Thirumangalathu

LINK: RFA-DE-23-001

Reissue: Short-Term Mentored Career Enhancement Award in Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research for Mid-Career and Senior Investigators

The goal of this concept is to continue research enhancement opportunities for established investigators that will build new multidisciplinary research teams and bring novel, innovative approaches and varied perspectives to improving dental, oral, and craniofacial health. The program provides investigators with an opportunity 1) to acquire new research capabilities in the theories, tools, methods, or approaches of a scientific field different from their own, to enrich and expand an existing DOC research program; or 2) to bring DOC research to existing research in other scientific fields.

STAFF CONTACT: Shoba Thirumangalathu

LINK: PAR-22-121

Reissue: NIDCR-CTSA Clinical and Translational Science Training Partnership Program

The translation of basic research discoveries into interventions that improve public health requires teams of scientists, clinicians, and other stakeholders with wide-ranging expertise and perspectives. The goal of this concept is to leverage the research training resources and expertise available in the network of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences Clinical and Translational Science Award Program–supported medical research institutions (“hubs”) to increase the pipeline of NIDCR early career investigators who can advance clinical and translational dental, oral, and craniofacial research.

STAFF CONTACT: Shoba Thirumangalathu

LINK: NOT-DE-22-001

Spatiotemporal Mapping of Dental and Craniofacial Embryogenesis at the Single-Cell Level

The purpose of this concept is to encourage investigators to apply recent advances in spatial transcriptomics, imaging, and high-throughput single-cell sequencing approaches to understand the complex spatiotemporal context of the developing embryo.

STAFF CONTACTS: Zubaida Saifudeen, Alicia Chou

May 2021

Conducting Dental Practice-Based Research in Dental Schools to Provide Clinical Research Experience and Educational Opportunities

The goal of this concept is to support patient-oriented clinical research experiences and skills development for clinical faculty and dental, postgraduate students, and residents by providing opportunities to conduct practice-based research in dental school clinics, especially in dental schools with limited research resources. This opportunity would expand the culture of scientific inquiry during dental school and postgraduate education, would foster scientific collaborations between dental students, residents, and clinical faculty, and has the potential to stimulate additional clinical research pursuits among clinically oriented faculty members and dental, postgraduate students, and residents. This concept would support developmental and/or small-scale practice-based research studies conducted in undergraduate and postgraduate dental clinic settings. Proposed research may utilize the National Dental Practice-Based Research Network infrastructure to support study development and implementation.

STAFF CONTACT: Dena Fischer

LINK: RFA-DE-23-012

NIDCR Dentist-Scientist Career Transition Award for Intramural Investigators

The goal of this concept is to provide support for outstanding dentists conducting postdoctoral research in NIH Intramural Laboratories and the NIH Clinical Research Center to successfully transition to research-intensive academic faculty positions. The expected outcome of this concept is an increase in the number of well-trained dentist scientists who can apply their clinical expertise and robust research training to improve dental, oral, and craniofacial health.

STAFF CONTACT: Shoba Thirumangalathu

LINKS: PAR-25-027, PAR-22-046, PAR-22-045, PAR-22-044

NIDCR Dual-Degree Dentist-Scientist Pathway to Independence Award

The goal of this concept is to support the career progression of the most promising dual-degree D.D.S./.D.M.D. –Ph.D. dentist scientists from postdoctoral scholar to independent faculty researcher, while also providing the opportunity for continued engagement with clinical practice and, as appropriate, clinical specialty training.

STAFF CONTACT: Shoba Thirumangalathu

LINKS: PAR-25-333, PAR-22-043,  PAR-22-042, PAR-22-041

NIDCR Mentored Career Development Award to Promote Diversity in the Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research Workforce

The objective of this concept is to maintain a continuum of funding opportunities and ensure a career pathway of mentored research training in dental, oral, and craniofacial research for individuals from groups underrepresented in the biomedical, clinical, behavioral, and social sciences research workforce.

LINKS: PAR-22-050, PAR-22-051, PAR-22-052

Transformative Approaches to Developing a Dentist-Scientist Clinical Research Workforce

The goal of this concept is to provide clinical research experiences and research training to dental students and postgraduate dentists to stimulate interest in clinical research and research careers. These opportunities are expected to provide flexible and engaging mentored research experiences, guiding program participants toward developing research knowledge and skills, producing scholarly products, and identifying career pathways that will enable them to achieve their professional and research goals.

STAFF CONTACT: Shoba Thirumangalathu

LINKS: RFA-DE-23-001

January 2021

Reissue: NIDCR Clinical Trial Planning and Implementation Grant Program

Improving health through the generation of robust data from well-designed and implemented clinical trials is a high priority for NIDCR. Since 2018, NIDCR has supported most of its clinical trials using a phased, milestone-driven, cooperative agreement mechanism that includes a planning phase, followed by a transition to a clinical trial implementation phase if the planning phase milestones are met. The objective of this concept is to continue NIDCR’s clinical trials program using a similar phased, milestone-driven cooperative agreement mechanism.

STAFF CONTACT: Dena Fischer

LINKS: PAR-21-160, PAR-21-317, PAR-22-068, PAR-25-057, PAR-25-062, PAR-25-188

September 2020

 COVID-19 Research

The overall objectives of this concept are to 1) encourage research that would inform prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and COVID-19-related illnesses; and 2) stimulate innovations in health surveillance and care delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic, within the mission of NIDCR.

STAFF CONTACT: Amanda Melillo

LINKS: NOT-DE-21-001, NOT-DE-23-004

NIDCR Administrative Supplements to Support Short-Term Dentist-Scientist Research Training

This concept will support short-term, mentored research training for outstanding early career dentist-scientists who have demonstrated high potential and strong interest in pursuing careers as clinician-biomedical scientists. This concept aims to retain dentist-scientists in the biomedical research workforce and addresses the need to foster the transition of dentist-scientists from dental specialty or residency training to faculty positions with independent NIH/NIDCR grant support.

STAFF CONTACT: Michele McGuirl

LINK: NOT-DE-20-035

NIDCR Dual-Degree Dentist-Scientist Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Transition Award

The goal of this concept is to develop a two-phased program using the F99/K00 model. The first phase (F99) will support the final two years of predoctoral training for students in dual-degree D.D.S./D.M.D.–Ph.D. Dental Scientist Training Program (DSTP) programs. Following graduation and attainment of a postdoctoral research position, the second phase (K00) will provide support for up to three years of mentored postdoctoral research training. This concept will emphasize mentorship across the predoctoral-to-postdoctoral transition.

STAFF CONTACT: Chantel Fuqua

LINKS: PAR-21-108, PAR-25-021

Research Enhancement Award Program (REAP) for Health Professional Schools and Graduate Schools

The objective of this concept is to stimulate research at educational institutions that offer baccalaureate or advanced degrees, but that have not been major recipients of NIH support. REAP grants create opportunities for scientists and institutions, otherwise unlikely to participate extensively in NIH research programs, to contribute to the Nation’s biomedical and behavioral research effort.

STAFF CONTACT: Lorena Baccaglini

LINKS: PAR-25-298, PAR-22-060

Targeting Upstream Social Determinants of Health

The goal of this concept is to support research on how to optimally address upstream health determinants that can often present a barrier to optimal oral health and impede the effectiveness of preventive research interventions in communities. To achieve this goal, this concept will encourage multidisciplinary collaborations, mechanistic research, multilevel research, and the use of complex systems science approaches to generate scientific evidence that helps transform policies and practices to optimize oral health for all people.

STAFF CONTACT: Hiroko Iida

LINK: RFA-DE-22-002

Understanding Oral Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Infection, Acquisition, and Persistence in People Living with HIV

The goal of this concept is to solicit research to better understand the epidemiology and biology of oral human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, its acquisition and persistence, in people living with HIV, and the interrelationships between oral HPV infection and oral diseases in the context of HIV. NIDCR collaborates with the National Cancer Institute in this concept to encourage innovative research proposals that inform approaches for preventing oral HPV infection and treatment of HPV-related oral diseases for people living with HIV.

STAFF CONTACT: Hiroko Iida

LINKS: RFA-DE-22-003, RFA-DE-22-004