College of Dentistry Partners with USC to Study How Tooth Enamel Develops

How does a mushy matrix of protein molecules emerge from an infant’s tooth buds to become the hardened substance known as tooth enamel? To answer this question, an NYU dental professor and his counterpart at the University of Southern California School of Dentistry are partnering on the most comprehensive study to date to investigate the process that causes tooth enamel to develop.

      The USC School of Dentistry received a five-year, $2 million award from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), part of NIH, to lead the study under principal investigator Janet Moradian-Oldak, an associate professor of dentistry at USC.

      NYU’s College of Dentistry received a $100,000 subcontract to chart the molecular structure of amelogenin, the predominant protein in tooth enamel. NYUCD’s principal investigator, John S. Evans, a professor of basic science and craniofacial biology and of chemistry, is using a powerful nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer housed at NYUCD to record information about molecular structure.

—Ami Finkelthal