NMR studies of the structure of precipitated calcium phosphates and carbonates and minral-protein interactions

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Progress in understanding biomineralization processes requires detailed and quantitative structural information on the various species being formed in the process. Disordered phases are of particular importance in biomineralization, in the initial nucleation of the mineral crystals, on the surface of the nanocrystals and -most importantly- in the protein-mineral interaction. The aim of this proposal is to use NMR (with the specific and important advantage that it does not suffer from limitations due to disorder in the sample or the nanoscopic dimensions of the mineral crystals) to study in detail the structure of precipitated calcium phosphates in the presence of various proteins (osteocalcin, osteopontin, fetuin, O-phospo-L-serine) and the mineral-protein interaction. Another principal objective is the detailed investigation of the structure of amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) which is X-ray amorphous, its ageing (thermal and in water) and the kinetics of the recrystallization processes.