(1990) Doctor of Dental Surgery, Université Louis Pasteur

(1995) Periodontology, Northwestern University

(1996) Ph.D Molecular Biology, Northwestern University

Charles Sfeir
Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh
Associate Research Scientist, Bone Tissue Engineering Center (BTEC), Carnegie Mellon University

Research Interests
My research focuses on two major topics:
(1) Tissue engineering of hard tissues such as bones, teeth and periodontal tissues and (2) Biomineralization.

My goal is to develop a clinically relevant therapy that could enhance bone regeneration for the elderly, osteoporotic, and normal adult. The approach is to deliver via engineered resorbable polymers a combination of growth factors, such as bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) and/or parathyroid hormone to the site to be regenerated. These growth factors will be delivered either in a recombinant protein form or DNA plasmid vectors.
The other tissue of interest is engineering tooth structures. In our laboratory, we use odontoblast cells that are responsible for tooth formation to form tooth structures. Using the same technologies of resorbable polymers we are in the process of studying tooth structure formation. The second area of research is biomineralization. Once the cells differentiate they secrete a specialized matrix responsible for the mineralization of the tissue. Our interest is to understand this process and how we can improve it. To achieve this goal we are focusing on the extracellular matrix proteins of bone and teeth especially the highly negatively charged phosphoprotein that are hypothesized to initiate the biomineralization process.

Sample Publications
    Carson H. Thomas, Joel Collier, Charles Sfeir and Kevin Healy. Engineering Gene Expression and Protein Synthesis by Modulation of Nuclear Shape. Nature Biotechnology, submitted.
   Sfeir, C., Butler, S., Lin, E., George, A., and Veis, A. From mouse to zebrafish - dentin matrix proteins genomic characterization, Chemistry and Biology of Mineralized Tissue. Editors: M. Goldberg, A. Boskey, C. Robinson. Publisher: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Chicago 2000.
  Winn, S.R., Bonadio, J., Sfeir, C., Hollinger, J.O. Cells as drug delivery platforms. Adv. Drug Deliv. Reviews, 42: 121-138, 2000. Gene Therapy Approaches for Modulating Bone Regeneration.
  S. Winn, Y. Hu, C. Sfeir, and J.O. Hollinger. Adv. Drug Deliv., Adv. Drug Deliv. Reviews. 42: 121-138, 2000.
   Jeffrey O. Hollinger; J. Bonadio; J. Schmitz; C. Sfeir; S. Winn;. Craniofacial Surgery: Bone Substitutes. Eds. K. Lin, R. Ogle and J. Jane. 2000.
   Veis, A., Wei, K., Sfeir, C., George, A., and Malone, J. The properties of the (DSS)n triplet repeat domain of rat dentin phosphophoryn. Eur. J. Oral Sci. 106: (Suppl 1) 234-238, 1998.
   Veis, A., Wu, C.B., Sfeir, C. Phosphorylation of the proteins of the extracellular matrix of mineralized tissues by casein kinase-like activity. Critical Review in Oral Biology and Medicine. Vol 8: (4) 360-379, 1997.
  Sfeir, C. and Veis, A. The membrane associated kinases which phosphorylate bone and dentine extracellular matrix phosphoproteins are isoforms of cytosolic CK II. J. Connective Tissue Reseach, Vol. 35 (1-4): 215-222, 1996.
   Sfeir, C. and Veis, A. Casein kinase localization in the endoplasmic reticulum of the ROS 17/2.8 cell line. J. Bone Min Res, Vol 10, (4): 607-615, 1995.