Postdoctoral Research Associate
Academic Clinical Lecturer and Periodontology Registrar
Head of the Centre for Craniofacial & Regenerative Biology
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Molecular dissection of dental pulp stem cell microenvironments
Cell transitions that lead to differentiation of specific tooth cell types during growth and repair are being investigated at the single cell level. The aim is to understand how stem cell behaviour is controlled.
Development of biological approaches for human tooth regeneration and repair
Discovery research directed towards understanding dental stem cells is being used as the basis to develop novel biologically-based approaches to treat dental caries and periodontal disease by stimulating resident stem cells.
ReDent 1 is a product we have developed to treat deep caries lesions by activating dental pulp stem cells to make regenerative dentine an produce a natural repair. Clinical trials of ReDent 1 are planned for 2020.
ReDent 2 is bioactivate glass that stimulates odontoblast activity during tooth repair.
Similar products are being developed to treat periodontal disease.
The Sharpe Group were awarded the 2017 King's Award for Research Project of the Year.
The research project described a new method of stimulating the natural process of renewal of dental tissues and was developed by research group members including PhD students Vitor Neves and Rebecca Babb, and lab technician Dhivya Chandrasekaran, led by Centre Director, Professor Paul Sharpe.
The winning project demonstrated a way to stimulate the stem cells contained in the pulp of teeth to generate new dentine – a significant mineralised component of the tooth - in large cavities. This proof of principle research potentially paves the way for alternative clinical procedures to restore damaged teeth and thereby reduce the need for fillings. This novel, biological approach to repair might be expected to be an improvement of current procedures which can be prone to infections and frequently require replacement.