Enzymatic activity in oral biofilms – biotechnological applications and putative predictive biomarkers for oral health and disease
Facts
- Contact person:
- Fredrik Leo
- Financer:
-
- KK-stiftelsen
- Responsible at MaU:
- Claes Wickström
- Project members at MaU:
- External project members:
-
- Gunnel Svensäter – Malmö University
- Rolf Lood - Genovis AB och Lunds Universitet
- Collaborators :
-
- Genovis AB
- Folktandvården Skåne
- Proteomics Core Facility - Göteborgs Universitet
- Time frame:
- 04 December 2019 - 07 November 2025
- Faculty/department:
- Research subject:
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- Dentistry
- Cell Molecular Biology
- Microbiology
- Oral Biofilms
- Biochemistry
- Oral streptococci
- Salivary proteins
- Enzymes
About the project
Oral diseases affect individuals several times during a lifetime, with a prevalence of 3.5 billion people, with worldwide societal costs of $544.4 billion in treatment expenditures and productivity losses due to absence from work/school. In the EU, it is responsible for costs of €90 billion, only ranking behind diabetes and cardiovascular disease. While several studies have advanced our knowledge regarding microbial composition in oral flora in health and disease, the underlying role of enzymes and their regulation has mainly been disregarded. Herein, we will investigate the impact of glycosidase and protease expression in oral flora during health/disease.
The study is expected to lead to the identification of novel biomarkers for oral health and disease, an area in need of novel, rapid, and robust methods for diagnosis and novel biotechnological tools as analytical reagents for biopharmaceuticals.