The goal of this proposal is to develop procedures for the tissue engineering of oral tissues. The investigators propose to prepare a series of monoclonal antibodies which can be used to isolate specific cell types of periodontium or oral mucosa origin. Secondly, they will continue development of a method, termed cytoscription, which uses a computer controlled XY-translation table and a fluorescence activated cell sorter to position cells in anatomically correct apposition with other cell types. Using a procedure they have used previously, monoclonal antibodies to cell surface molecules will be prepared. Such monoclonal antibodies will be used to purify selected cell types by flow sorting or immunoaffinity procedures. They will recombine isolated cell types to form functional tissues by cytoscription. The methods employed in cytoscription will be optimized by varying parameters involved in generation of droplets by a flow cytometer and by development of means to prepare 3-dimensional constructs of cells.
