Congratulations to Dr. Marc McKee on his recent success! Dr. McKee was awarded a CIHR operating grant of $143 000 per year for the next five years for his project the Regulation of biomineralisation by osteopontin. This CIHR-funded work will help in understanding how decreased mineralization occurs in the rare osteomalacia diseases, where bones and teeth are incompletely calcified, soft and deformable and/or prone to fracture. In bones and teeth, small calcium-phosphate crystals deposit within a scaffolding of proteins called the extracellular matrix. This process is called mineralization, and protein-crystal interactions in the skeleton and dentition define properties that make them hard and strong. The research will focus on a protein called osteopontin, which is known to control how mineral crystals grow in bones and teeth. Such work should provide insight into keeping bones and teeth strong and healthy, and may suggest ways to treat patients where these tissues are defective.
