Piezoelectric QCM for Dental Caries Research

描述：压电石英晶体微天平（QCM）是一个强大的工具，以测量表面上的质量吸积在纳克范围。在过去的10年里，它在各种生物学研究中的应用越来越多，从蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用，DNA杂交，表面附着和生物膜形成，到食品，水和尿液样品中病原体的检测。然而，这种强大的技术尚未应用于牙科。在这项探索性的研究应用中，来自加州大学洛杉矶分校牙科学院（UCLA）和加州大学河滨分校（UCR）化学与环境工程系的研究人员正在合作，通过开发一种将QCM与适用于激光扫描共聚焦显微镜（LSCM）的流体室相结合的集成系统，将这项技术引入牙科。我们认为，这种集成系统将允许实时测量生物量的增长，同时分析生物膜形成过程中的结构发展。它还将允许快速，灵敏和特异性检测口腔病原体，同时进行图像确认。本研究提出了两个具体目标。目的1是建立一个与激光扫描共聚焦显微镜兼容的、集成的QCM/流控室系统，用于口腔生物膜的研究。目的二是将QCM应用于S.混合培养物中的变异株本研究的结果将是QCM技术在牙科中的新发展和应用，这将导致获得牙科生物膜研究的新知识，并开发一种新的诊断工具，该工具有可能开发成用于口腔病原体检测的椅边设备。

DESCRIPTION: Piezoelectric quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) is a powerful tool to measure mass accretion on surfaces in the nanogram range. In the past 10 years, it has found more and more applications in a variety of biological studies from protein-protein interaction, DNA hybridization, surface attachment and biofilm formation, to detection of pathogens in food, water, and urine samples. Nevertheless, this powerful technique has not been applied in Dentistry. In this exploratory research application, investigators from UCLA School of Dentistry (UCLA) and Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department of University of California-Riverside (UCR) are partnering to introduce this technology to Dentistry by developing an integrated system combining QCM with fluidic chamber adaptable to laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM). We posit that this integrated system will allow for real-time measurement of biomass accretion with simultaneous analysis of structural development during biofilm formation. It will also allow for rapid, sensitive, and specific detection of oral pathogens with simultaneous image confirmation. Two Specific Aims are proposed for this study. Aim 1 is to develop a LSCM compatible, integrated QCM/fluidic chamber system for oral biofilm studies. Aim 2 is to apply QCM for rapid detection and quantification of S. mutans in mixed cultures. The outcome of this study will be the novel development and application of the QCM technology in Dentistry, which will result in acquisition of new knowledge in Dental biofilm research and development of a novel diagnostic tool that has the potential to be developed into a chair side device for oral pathogen detection.