Supramolecular mineralizing materials for dental tissue regeneration

基于有机-无机相互作用的超分子控制的材料平台为开发能够重现骨和牙釉质等组织的结构和功能特性的材料提供了巨大的潜力。目前有一种尚未满足的需求，即开发能够重现牙釉质特性的矿化材料。牙釉质的丧失可能会对生活质量产生深远的影响，并导致侵入性和昂贵的干预措施，以防止因过敏、釉质侵蚀或龋齿而导致的巨大口腔疼痛。该项目将由阿尔瓦罗·马塔教授和克里斯塔贝尔·福勒博士领导，旨在开发一种用于牙齿组织再生的矿化材料。该项目将探索使用基于蛋白质的基质来控制有机-无机相互作用，引导矿化，并最终设计和制造牙科植入物。这项工作将整合超分子化学，其中有必要优化蛋白质基质，生物矿化，我们的目标是在临床场景中控制磷灰石的生长，以及材料处理，我们希望能够制造牙科植入物。

Material platforms based on supramolecular control of organic-inorganic interactions offer enormous potential to develop materials that can recreate the structural and functional properties of tissues such as bone and enamel. There is currently an unmet need to develop mineralizing materials that can recreate the properties of dental enamel. Loss of enamel can have profound impact on quality of life and result in invasive and costly interventions to prevent immense oral pain due to hypersensitivity, enamel erosion, or tooth decay. The project will be led by Prof. Alvaro Mata and Dr. Christabel Fowler and aims to develop a mineralizing material for the regenerating of dental tissues. The project will explore the use of protein-based matrixes to control organic-inorganic interactions, guide mineralization, and ultimately design and fabricate dental implants. The work will integrate supramolecular chemistry where there is a need to optimize protein matrixes, biomineralization where we aim to control apatite growth in clinical scenarios, and material processing where we look to enable fabrication of dental implants.