Molecular/Mechanical Imaging of Dentin Bonding Substrate

描述(申请人提供)：建议的“导师定量研究职业生涯奖”候选人在聚合物化学和材料科学方面有多学科的培训和研究经验。他在聚合物化学、材料科学和振动光谱学领域的专业知识使他处于独特的地位，可以将这一强大的知识基础应用于生物材料和生物医学/组织工程领域。这份职业发展申请中概述的计划为应聘者的背景增加了一个生物学/临床基础。应聘者将通过一个结合教育、指导和完成创新研究研究的多学科计划，建立他的研究知识、经验和对口腔组织发育的生物学方面、涉及口腔和颅面组织的疾病过程以及分子生物学技术的理解。候选人的长期目标是将自己确立为生物材料/组织工程领域的一名富有成效的独立研究科学家，专注于口腔和颅面组织替代材料的开发。研究活动将在UMKC牙科学院新成立的界面结构和性能研究中心完成。该中心由候选人的导师Paulette Spencer博士和J.Lawrence Katz博士指导，其基本目标是提供一个研究环境，作为合作研究的催化剂，专注于将生物系统的原理应用于生物材料的分层设计、合成和应用。候选人建议使用新的高分辨率分析技术直接原位检测在受龋齿影响的牙本质和硬化牙本质的粘接界面上形成的键的分子结构和微观力学。这项工作将确定抑制在粘结剂界面与这些临床相关的牙本质基材形成持久粘结的结构/性能特征。这项工作的结果将为牙本质/粘结剂界面的失败机制提供关键的新见解；失败最终可能导致复合修复体过早崩溃。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The candidate for the proposed "Mentored Quantitative Research Career Award" has multidisciplinary training and research experience in polymer chemistry and materials science. His expertise in the field of polymer chemistry, material science and vibrational spectroscopy has placed him in a unique position to apply this strong knowledge base to the area of biomaterials and biomedical/tissue engineering. The program outlined in this career development application adds a biological/clinical foundation to the candidate's background. The candidate will build his research knowledge, experience and understanding of the biological aspects of oral tissue development, disease processes involving oral and craniofacial tissues, and molecular biologic techniques through a multidisciplinary program that combines education, mentoring and completion of an innovative research study. The candidate's long-term goal is to establish himself as a productive, independent research scientist in biomaterials/tissue engineering with a specific focus on the development of replacement materials for oral and craniofacial tissues. Research activities will be completed in the newly created Center for Research in Interfacial Structure and Properties at the UMKC School of Dentistry. A fundamental goal of the Center, which is under the direction of the candidate's mentors: Drs. Paulette Spencer and J. Lawrence Katz, is to provide a research environment that serves as a catalyst for collaborative investigations focused on applying the principles of biological systems to the hierarchal design, synthesis and application of biomaterials. The candidate proposes to use novel high-resolution analytical techniques for direct in situ detection of the molecular structure and micro-mechanics of the bond formed at the adhesive interface with caries-affected dentin and sclerotic dentin. The work will identify the structure/property characteristics that inhibit the formation of a durable bond at the adhesive interface with these clinically relevant dentin substrates. Results from this work will provide critical, new insight into failure mechanisms at the dentin/adhesive interface; failure that can ultimately lead to premature breakdown of the composite restoration.