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Welcome to New NIDCR Director

Posted on by Dr. Francis Collins

Rena D’Souza (right) has joined the NIH family as director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR). Because of the pandemic, her swearing-in ceremony was held virtually on October 13, 2020.

The Science of Saliva

Posted on by Dr. Francis Collins

Artificial salivary glands

Credit: Swati Pradhan-Bhatt, Christiana Care Health System, Newark, DE

Whether it’s salmon sizzling on the grill or pizza fresh from the oven, you probably have a favorite food that makes your mouth water. But what if your mouth couldn’t water—couldn’t make enough saliva? When salivary glands stop working and the mouth becomes dry, either from disease or as a side effect of medical treatment, the once-routine act of eating can become a major challenge.

To help such people, researchers are now trying to engineer replacement salivary glands. While the research is still in the early stages, this image captures a crucial first step in the process: generating 3D structures of saliva-secreting cells (yellow). When grown on a scaffold of biocompatible polymers infused with factors to encourage development, these cells cluster into spherical structures similar to those seen in salivary glands. And they don’t just look like salivary cells, they act like them, producing the distinctive enzyme in saliva, alpha amylase (blue).