Dental Regenerative Biology Special Issue
A fundamental biological property of all multicellular organisms is their ability to respond to injuries. Tissue regeneration is one of the most complex and dynamic biological processes and consists of a sequence of cellular and molecular events that are activated immediately upon injury. Successful restoration of tissue integrity and homeostasis relies on the reactivation of a variety of signalling pathways and their coordinated action. The biological responses to injury involve new tissue formation, its remodelling, neovascularisation and reinnervation.
In the tooth organ, injuries induce activation of regenerative mechanisms within the dental pulp, periodontal ligament and alveolar bone tissues. These processes involve the activation of stem cells and reorganisation of the neuronal and vascular network. Biological repair of dental tissues represents an attractive alternative and complement to the prosthetic replacement techniques. Tissue engineering techniques that require the combination of biocompatible scaffolds, appropriate populations of stem cells and signalling molecules are already under intense investigation. Blood supply and innervation are very important parameters for the behaviour of engrafted engineered implants for dental regeneration purposes. Miniaturised “organ-on-chip” devices that successfully emulate human dental pathophysiological conditions in vitro are increasingly used for elucidating the various regenerative cues. Recently, 3D in vitro systems, termed organoids, that contain an important number of stem cells and allow the recreation of similar to the in vivo conditions, have been successfully generated from dental tissues.
The combination of these biological and technological platforms gave rise to pioneering techniques that are revolutionising dentistry and greatly promise for improved dental care in the near future.
Therefore, this Research Topic intends to provide a comprehensive overview of how dental tissues respond to destructive insults, highlight the cues that are involved in their regeneration and report on the most recent developments in dental regeneration involving a combination of tissue engineering and stem-cell biology.
We encourage researchers to contribute to this Research Topic with original research articles and review articles that could stimulate the continuous efforts to understand dental regenerative biology. We are also interested in articles dealing with potentially novel treatment strategies in dental tissue regeneration.
Keywords: teeth, dental pulp, periodontium, alveolar bone, stem cells, tissue engineering, injury, tissue regeneration, microfluidics, organoids.
Submission deadline: 28th of February 2021
All papers (invited and open submitted) undergo full peer review. All accepted manuscripts will follow the Article Processing Charge (APC) policy of eCM.
Publication: immediately upon acceptance
Editorial team
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eCM Scientific Editor Prof Thimios Mitsiadis |
Thimios Mitsiadis is a dentist specialised in paediatric dentistry and Professor of Oral Biology at the Medical Faculty of the University of Zurich, Switzerland since 2006. He obtained a DDS degree from the Dental Faculty of the Kapodistrion, University of Athens (Greece), a Master degree in Immunology, Genetics and Differentiation, and a PhD in Developmental Biology from the University of Lyon (France). He conducted postdoctoral studies at the University of Helsinki (Finland), Karolinksa Nobel Institute (Sweden) and Yale University (USA). Previously, he was Professor at the Mediterranean University (France), Visiting Professor at the Ecole Normale Superieure of Lyon (France), Clinical Senior Lecturer at King's College London (UK), Visiting Professor at the Polytechnic University of Marche (Italy), Visiting Professor at the Second University of Napoli (Italy). Currently, he is Visiting Professor at the D’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara (Italy). Thimios conducts research in the fields of stem cells, genetics and molecular and experimental biology related to orofacial developmental and regeneration processes. He authored more than 160 papers in journals such as “Journal of Cell Biology”, “Development”, “Developmental Biology”, “Nature Genetics”, “Nature Cell Biology”, “Science Signaling”, “Scientific Reports”, “Cells”, “European Cells & Materials”, “Frontiers in Physiology” and gave more than 200 keynote and invited lectures. Thimios is an eCM Scientific Editor, has 7300 citations according to Google Scholar (5.200 according to Clarivate Analytics) and an H-index of 50 according to Google Scholar (41 according to Clarivate Analytics).
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eCM Guest Editor Prof Oriana Trubiani |
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Published manuscripts
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