About the Department of Research

Research and scholarly activity is a robust cornerstone at OCOM and reflects one of the American Osteopathic Association (AOA)’s top strategic priorities. The department’s commitment to research includes a wealth of resources including:

  • Research Seed Funding for medical students and faculty

  • Travel support to present scholarly works at national meetings

  • A state-of-the-art NIH level 2 biosafety lab

  • Dedicated Cureus publication channel

  • Assistance with manuscript preparation

  • Full-time research coordinator and grants manager

Journal Publications

OCOM Faculty are prolific scholars, having published over 275 pubmed-indexed articles in just the last 5 years.

Their publications span the breadth of medical journals, including the Journal of Osteopathic Medicine, Archives of Dermatologic Research, Orthopedic Reviews, Journal of Craniofacial Surgery, JACEP Open, Health Psychology Research, International Journal of Emergency Medicine, Case Reports in Neurology, Radiology Case Reports, BMC Psychology, Journal of the National Medical Association,  New England Journal of Medicine, American Journal of Preventative Medicine, BMJ case reports, Cureus, American Family Physician, Medical Science Educator, Pharmacological Research Perspectives, Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Academic Medicine & Surgery, Annals of Emergency Medicine.

OCOM’s Cureus Channel

OCOM has partnered with Cureus to have its own channel, which allows us to promote our brand, showcase our research, and much more. All OCOM students and faculty are welcome to publish in our channel. Our channel editors are Drs. Ganti & Wallen.

Research On Display

We invite all of our faculty and students, including our 1,000+ preceptors to the fall research soiree as a way for everyone to get to know one another’s areas of research expertise/interest, and learn about all that OCOM Research has to offer.

OCOM’s annual Spring Research Symposium is where students present their research. The event includes a keynote speaker, invited judges, and prizes for the best research presentations. All research abstracts are published in OCOM’s Cureus channel.

Institutional Board Review

  • We use the NIH Office of Extramural Research (OER) decision tool to determine exempt status, and have EDOs (Exempt Determination Officers) on the Research Committee to provide prompt exempt determination to qualifying studies. Click here to see our SOP for submitting research studies.

  • We have partnered with the WCG IRB to provide study planning review and approvals. WCG is a pioneer of independent ethical review, now the industry gold standard, and their 55-year legacy of independent review solutions serves as the foundation on which we continually build to accelerate and improve the clinical research journey.

The Research Lab

The research lab at OCOM comprises 1,200 square feet of wet and dry bench research laboratory space. This well-equipped multipurpose laboratory space includes wet and dry vacuum, centrifuge, cryogenic sample storage, spectrophotomter, and clinical point of care laboratory testing for common CLIA- waived tests such as CBC, CMP, UA, HIV, Coags, and respiratory viruses.

Laboratory Equipment

  • The MVE CryoSystem Series combines the benefits of low nitrogen consumption with mid-range vial capacity to meet the diverse needs of today's professionals worldwide. The lightweight and low-space demands of these LN2 dewars make them the most economical units in their class. These vessels are performance leaders through innovation, super insulation and vacuum technology.

  • The Optima™ XE Ultracentrifuge from Beckman Coulter Offers a max speed of up to 100,000 rpm. This centrifuge simplifies use while offering secure loading for efficient, worry-free separations. Designed as a total system, Optima instruments, rotors and labware are designed, manufactured and tested as an integrated system for optimal performance and safety.

  • The Eppendorf Research plus is one of the safest and most ergonomic mechanical pipettes available. Meeting the highest needs of precision and accuracy while providing high flexibility via a large number of variants, the Research plus will become an indispensable companion in your lab. This micropipette is remarkably light, both in terms of weight and pipetting forces, which helps you to avoid hand and arm strain. The 16- and 24-channel pipette system combines proven concepts with new innovations and facilitates quick & easy manual pipetting in 384-well plates.

  • Optimized cone geometry allows for a perfect matching of every Eppendorf pipette tip to every Eppendorf pipette, for guaranteed pipette performance when used as a system. Additionally, the epTIPS are also universally applicable for use with pipettes from all other manufacturers. The epTIPS system provides an alternative to throwing away an entire box when the tips run out.

  • Novacel's processing and protective films are designed to prevent scratches and damage during the laser cutting process. This protection is crucial for maintaining the aesthetic and functional quality of high-value materials such as stainless steel, aluminum, copper, brass and coated metals.

  • Used for the cold storage of vaccines, drugs, tissue samples, enzymes, reagents and laboratory samples. These ultra-cold freezers are also used in many manufacturing facilities as well as the aerospace industry. Patented technology of auto cascade (single compressor) ULT refrigeration, strong cooling, fast freezing and low power consumption.

  • Engineered to meet the exacting demands of scientific research, this freezer has a temperature range of -10 to -30 degrees Celsius and optimal storage conditions for valuable specimens.

  • Lab Armor™ Beads are small, non-uniform metal beads composed of dry, metallic thermal alloy designed to replace water in a water bath or ice in an ice bucket. Generally, any water bath without moving parts can be converted to a dry bath. Lab Armor™ beads maintain uniform temperature better than water by transferring heat more slowly. A Lab Armor™ bead bath has a working temperature range of -80°C to 180°C.

  • Seals and prevents freezing of stopcocks and ground-glass joints in high-vacuum systems at pressures less than 10-6 mm Hg. Heat stable (−40 to 204 °C), low vapor pressure, and chemically resistant. Colorless. 5.3 oz. tube.

  • An instrument used to sterilize equipment and supplies by subjecting them to high pressure saturated steam at 121 °C for around 15–20 minutes depending on the size of the load and the contents. Typical loads include laboratory glassware, surgical instruments, medical waste, patient care utensils, animal cage bedding, and Lysogeny broth.

  • The Axiom Class II Type C1 maximizes safety and flexibility as the first biosafety cabinet that can be used in a recirculating Type A mode for standard microbiological work or can be connected to an exhaust system to function in Type B mode for handling hazardous chemicals. The unique design includes the Chem-Zone™, providing chemical safety with a large, clearly defined area within the enclosure, bringing peace of mind when handling chemicals. Other features that make the Axiom safe and easy to operate include its ergonomic Inclination™ Technology and the intuitive MyLogic™ Operating System.

  • Erlab’s Captair Ductless Filtering Fume Hoods and Powder Weighing Stations are designed with advanced carbon filtration, Flex Technology and a simple, innovative way to keep you safe. With Erlab’s unique ValiQuest or eValiQuest validation process, safety is guaranteed and chemical exposure is eliminated by the configurable filtering system above the enclosure. Validation of the filtration needed is completed through the ValiQuest or eValiQuest process. Installation is simple and no ductwork is necessary allowing for relocation.

  • Widening the scope of your separation: The Centrifuge CP-NX Series. The flagship of our ultracentrifuge portfolio has been designed to make ultracentrifugation as safe and convenient as possible. With speeds of up to 803,000 x g (100,000 rpm), it is the optimal solution for nucleic acids, proteins, protein complexes, vesicles and viruses, just to name a few.

  • Quickly wash contaminants from eyes or body.

  • Compact and powerful Allegra X-30 Series. With the smallest footprint of its class and increased capacity, you will save valuable lab space and priceless running time. The X-30 Series offers 13 different rotors and multiple pre-bundled application packages, accommodating cell culture processing, blood sample preparation, and microplate applications—all in one instrument. The highest RPMs and g-force in class save you precious time you can devote to other critical tasks. Its streamlined user interface makes operation a breeze. And with increased capacity, you can run more samples simultaneously.

  • The flexibility of these plate readers allows you to configure them according to your specific requirements, adapting them to various experimental setups. From fundamental tasks like ELISA assays to nucleic acid and protein quantitation to more intricate endeavors such as gene expression studies and enzyme kinetic assays, our automated microplate readers cater to a wide spectrum of applications. Elevate your research with our seamlessly integrated microplate readers, designed to provide efficiency and convenience at every step.

  •  Help’s make imaging and analyzing western blots and gels easy. The high-resolution 9.1 MP camera and suite of automated features helps you produce publication quality data fast. The touchscreen interface is carefully crafted to provide a smooth image capture experience. The system’s built in software and our standalone iBright Analysis Software are designed to streamline the image analysis process. Straightforward total lane protein and house-keeping protein normalization workflows allow for simpler image analysis from start to finish, no matter what your experience level.

Research Committee Members