Piezoelectric QCM for Dental Caries Research

描述：压电石英晶体微天平（QCM）是一种测量纳米级表面质量增加的强大工具。在过去的10年里，它在各种生物学研究中得到了越来越多的应用，从蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用、DNA杂交、表面附着和生物膜形成，到食物、水和尿液样本中的病原体检测。然而，这种强大的技术并没有应用于牙科。在这项探索性研究应用中，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。我们假设这个集成系统将允许实时测量生物量增加，同时分析生物膜形成过程中的结构发展。它还将允许快速、敏感和特异性地检测口腔病原体，同时进行图像确认。本研究提出了两个具体目的。目标1是开发一个与LSCM兼容的、集成的QCM/流体室系统，用于口腔生物膜的研究。目的2：应用QCM快速检测和定量混合培养中的变形链球菌。本研究的结果将是QCM技术在牙科领域的新发展和应用，这将为牙科生物膜研究和新型诊断工具的开发提供新的知识，并有可能发展成为口腔病原体检测的椅子旁设备。

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.