Researchers at The University of Texas at San Antonio Health Science Center are investigating how the body forms dentin, the hard tissue beneath tooth enamel, and how understanding this natural process could one day help regenerate dental tissue and repair damaged teeth.
Shuo Chen, MD, PhD, professor of developmental dentistry at the UT San Antonio School of Dentistry, studies the molecular mechanisms that regulate dentin formation and inherited dentin disorders. His research focuses particularly on dentin sialophosphoprotein (DSPP), a protein that produces specialized cells that form dentin.