Stefan Habelitz, PhD
Professor
Preventive & Restorative Dental Sciences
+1 415 514-0818
Stefan Habelitz is a Materials Scientist and Chemist and Associate Professor at the Department of Preventive and Restorative Dental Sciences at the School of Dentistry at UCSF. His research focuses on understanding how matrix proteins control mineralization in enamel and dentin. Current approaches include:
- Remineralization of Dentin Caries Lesions: Anionic polymers, like Poly-Aspartic Acid, are used to induce intrafibrillar mineral within collagen fibrils. This project attempts to recover lost dental tissue function by a mineralization process, (see, Burwell et al. PLOS-One 2011).
- Mimicking Enamel Formation In-Vitro: Our recent studies in the lab have shown that amelogenin can self-assemble into ribbons which self-align and form an organic matrix mimicking the organization of apatite nanofibers in dental enamel. In this project we attempt to induce apatite crystallization on amelogenin templates to obtain materials similar to enamel (Martinez-Avila et al., Biomacromolecules 2012).
- Micropatterned Porous Membranes for Dental Tissue Synthesis: In this project we designed a variety of porous membranes that enable the precise positioning of cells thus facilitating cellular organization similar to odontoblasts at the pulpal wall. We study the potential of these membranes for in-vitro synthesis of dentin and enamel using dental stem cells, embryonic stem cell and iPS cells.
Interests: Tooth development, biomineralization, enamel matrix, amelogenin, collagen, dentin, enamel, apatite, odontoblasts, patterning, polymer membranes, tissue engineering, self-assembly.
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