Lift off!
Research hub for effective solutions to oral and dental health challenges is launched
The University of Glasgow’s Dental School has launched the Oral Health Research Hub.
It brings together research groups across the school in an ambitious new initiative to generate effective solutions to the big oral and dental health challenges facing our communities locally and globally.
The launch of the hub marks the bringing together of multi-disciplinary research groups across the school, and it will be a platform to foster innovation and collaboration with the NHS, policymakers, industry, patients and the public.
The launch event on 11 June showcased the new Oral Health Research Hub logo, designed by Laurie Rowan, a PhD student in the Dental School.
The logo represents the three working areas of the hub:
- Oral Health Sciences – laboratory analyses of infection biology of complex microbial communities (biofilms) and immunopathogenesis of oral diseases, including the inter-relationship with and impacts on systemic diseases.
- Community Oral Health – epidemiological-based analyses aiming to understand and reduce oral health inequalities across the life course both locally and globally, focused on child oral health, and head and neck cancer.
- Dental Clinical Research Facility – a partnership between NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Oral Health Directorate/Research and Innovation with the University of Glasgow to develop and implement oral and dental clinical trials.
These research areas map on to the strategic priorities of the University of Glasgow College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences:
- Fundamentals of life.
- Advancing diagnostics and therapeutics.
- Health inequalities.
- Planetary health.
The Oral Health Research Hub brings together a talented and diverse team with multidisciplinary skills and expertise, including in public health, epidemiology and data linkage or large routine administrative data, behavioural sciences, clinical trials, clinical dentistry and research, periodontology, immunology, endodontics, microbiology and bioinformatics.
The hub will foster and support a vibrant group of early career researchers and PhD students. The Dental School is the first in the UK to support dental students undertaking intercalated PhD students.
Examples of the work already underway and presented at the launch event included work in:
- Oral sciences on cellular responses and host-pathogen interactions in the oral cavity and beyond, molecular technologies, oral biofilms and antibiotic stewardship (Professor Will McLean).
- Community oral health data labs in child oral health and the evaluation of Childsmile, the national child oral health improvement programme, and in head and neck cancer with the International Agency for Research on Cancer (Professor Andrea Sherriff).
The development and successes of the Clinical Dental Research Facility (Professor
Shauna Culshaw) and important partnership with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Oral Health Directorate (Dr Hannah Bradley).
Examples of research projects from the hub’s early career researchers were also presented, including immunopathogenesis of periodontal oral bacteria infection and rheumatoid arthritis (Dr Jennifer Malcolm) and health systems factors associated with delays related to advanced-stage head and neck cancer diagnosis (Dr Grant Creaney).
The vision
The hub aims to generate effective solutions to the big oral/dental clinical and public health challenges.
Its multidisciplinary team works in partnership with the NHS, policymakers, patients/public, and industry, and in collaboration with international groups and networks.
The Oral Health Research Hub is a platform to foster an inclusive research culture of collaboration and innovation.
Delivering ambitious, high-quality, world-leading, original and impactful research to improve dental care, oral health and associated multimorbidity.
Professor David Conway, Director of the new initiative, said: “We have a clear vision with the launch of the new Oral Health Research Hub.
“The oral health challenges we face are significant. Currently, tooth extractions under general anaesthetic are the most common reason children have an elective hospital admission in Scotland and oral diseases are the most prevalent disease in the world.
“We aim for our interdisciplinary team of researchers to work together and in national and international collaborations, to deliver high-quality research to improve dental care and address inequalities in oral health both locally and globally.”
To find out more visit the University of Glasgow website.
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