Opening Oral Investigation
SDM's Helmerhorst wins grant from National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research
Eva Helmerhorst, an assistant professor at the Goldman School of Dental Medicine, has been awarded a $447,000 grant by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. The award for Oral Fluid Proteolytic Effects on Salivary Protein Structure and Function will be distributed over a two-year period.
Helmerhorst was the principal investigator of the grant application, which focuses on studying how glandular salivary proteins are processed by the whole saliva proteases once they are released into the oral cavity. Functionality of intact salivary proteins has been studied at length, but the professor of peridontology and oral biology hypothesizes that structural modification to these proteins is taking place in the dynamic oral cavity, and as a result, one section of the protein may be more active than others. Multiple studies at the basis of her hypothesis have been published in the past two years.
"Up until now, this area has been ignored," says Helmerhorst. "By separating the protein into pieces we will be able to pinpoint if the modifications are causing one section to react differently than the rest."
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