Bone and Connective Tissues/Tissue EngineeringMOON-IL CHO, PhD personal profile
Periodontal ligament fibroblasts, regeneration, and NFI-C
The research effort of our laboratory is focused on three areas:
- To understand the regulatory mechanisms by which periodontal ligament fibroblasts maintain their population as well as phenotype, and to determine how they differentiate into cementoblasts. We investigate the role of fibroblasts growth factor and epidermal growth factor receptors of periodontal ligament fibroblasts in these processes.
- The development of an effective therapy capable of achieving periodontal regeneration. Currently, we are developing a periodontal stem cell therapy that has the ability to regenerate critical size defects.
- A focus on understanding the role of the transcriptional factor Nuclear Factor I-C (NFI-C) in odontoblasts. Nfic knockout mice demonstrate aberrant odontoblasts differentiation and abnormal dentin formation. Surprisingly, the abnormal odontoblasts resemble osteoblasts and form bone-like dentin, known as osteodentin.
“The students, the faculty—it's kind of a big family.”