TEAM 1) Orofacial Pathophysiology and Tissue Engineering (C. Chaussain and S. Babajko), affiliated with ITMO Physiopathologie, Métabolisme, Nutrition and CSS3, addresses the main pathologies affecting orofacial tissues with inflammatory, chronic, environmental or genetic causes, proposing therapeutic strategies of regenerative medicine. The team studies rare diseases and common disorders that may appear during development or with ageing. These pathologies affect a large proportion of the population in France, Europe and worldwide, resulting in significant costs for health systems and patients. These pathologies significantly impact general health and quality of life, causing functional and aesthetic disorders and pain. Team 1 has a significant societal and economic impact. The team is supported by highly efficient administrative and technical staff. This rich interdisciplinary environment is addressed through two major themes. 

Themes

Environmental and genetic oral disorders

Many patients exhibit abnormalities in the structure, number and shape of their temporary and/or permanent teeth and abnormalities in other oral tissues (oral mucosa, periodontium, tongue, etc.). These abnormalities may be due to pathogenic variants of genes involved in dental and periodontal tissues, responsible for either isolated oral manifestations or part of a syndrome. Similar abnormalities may also be related to exposure to environmental toxicants or even possibly to other type of stressors such as psycho-social stresses or even physical factors, punctual or of longer duration during the formation of teeth, and capable of altering the activity of dental cells, ameloblasts and/or odontoblasts thus generating irreversible anomalies of structure or shape.
Developing molecular approaches to identify these anomalies and studying the pathophysiological mechanisms involved are the major objectives of the projects of this theme.