Assistant professor in periodontology and researcher Monica Gibson is the first recipient of the Geoffrey and Robyn Sperber Craniofacial Biology Research Fund Award.
Gibson and her research team have shown non-collagenous proteins that were initially only believed to be only involved in teeth development are actually present in several other tissues. This award will allow her to explore and collect data on these proteins.
"We are now starting to uncover that these non-collagenous proteins are functioning in other parts of the body," says Gibson, adding the grant will help her collect data and lay the initial framework for further connecting the use of non-collagenous proteins. "There are still many pathways not explored when it comes to mineralization of non-collagenous proteins. My goal is to understand how mineralization occurs in orofacial structures."
Gibson will receive $30,000 from the Geoffrey and Robyn Sperber Craniofacial Biology Research Fund Award. The intent of this award is to support high quality, impactful research that may subsequently be supported by extra grants at a national level.