Current research efforts focus on the identification and characterization of dental cell populations, scaffold materials, and design that can be most effectively used for tooth tissue engineering applications. Hoechst dye profiling and immuno-sorting methods were used to generate enriched clonal dental stem cell (DSC) lines. Expanded DSC and non-DSC lines are currently being examined, by both in vitro and in vivo methods, to define their potential to differentiate. Molecular and differentiation profiles will provide important characterizations of tooth bud cells, eventually to facilitate ongoing tooth tissue engineering efforts.
Progress in this research will be presented in a symposium, "Stem-cell-based Tissue Engineering of Craniofacial Structures," whose purpose is to present an overview of current, state-of-the-art craniofacial tissue engineering efforts via stem cells. This work was supported by the Center for Integrated Medicine and Innovative Technology (CIMIT), by The Forsyth Institute, by NIH/NIDCR grants R41 DE015445, R01 DE016132, and R21 DE016370-01, and by Dentigenix/Ivoclar-Vivadent.
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Contact: Linda Hemphill
lhemphill@iadr.org
International & American Association for Dental Research
28-Jun-2006