Kevin Healy, professor of bioengineering and materials science and engineering, leads Berkeleys role in a new craniofacial research center, C-DOCTOR.

UC Berkeleyis part ofa California-based, six-university consortium that has beenawarded $12 million by the National Institutes of Healthto develop strategies for treating craniofacial defects, which affect millions of Americans.

The consortium, called the Center for Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Tissue and Organ Regeneration (C-DOCTOR), is a part of a broader $24 million effort to develop resources and strategies for regenerating dental, oral and craniofacial tissues that have been damaged by disease or injury.

Craniofacial defects have devastating effects on patients, both because vital sensory organs and brain are housed in the cranium and because the face is so important to a persons identity. Such defects also can lead to compromised general health.

C-DOCTORs goal isto shepherd new therapies through preliminary studies and into human clinical trials. Funding for C-DOCTOR comes from the NIHs National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR).

Kevin Healy, professor in the College of Engineering, leads Berkeleys research efforts inC-DOCTOR. Other C-DOCTOR partners include UC San Francisco, University of Southern California, UC Davis, UCLA and Stanford. C-DOCTOR is seeking to establish industry partnerships, identify important clinical applications and evaluate mature tissue-regeneration technologies.

The College of Engineering has had a long history in the area of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, Healy said. Faculty in the departments of bioengineering and materials science are at the forefront of cutting-edge research that will have a transformative impact on craniofacial tissue engineering. The C-DOCTOR funding provides the facilities and resources to support their activity, providing what is necessary to explore interdisciplinary collaborations to achieve the translational goals of the center.

For more on how UC Berkeley is working to treat craniofacial disorders, watch the video below about how researchers here have discovered molecules that give hope for treatingTreacher Collins Syndrome.

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Berkeley engineers join $24 million push for craniofacial repair therapies - UC Berkeley