Math Biology Seminar: Kirstin Brink

Reptiles have the ability to replace their teeth continuously throughout life. Replacement occurs in highly patterned waves passing from the back to the front of the mouth, in alternating tooth positions. Although this pattern has been recognized for over 100 years, the formation and maintenance of this pattern is not well understood. In this presentation, I will present work being undertaken in the Richman lab at UBC to attempt and understand the mechanisms of continuous tooth replacement in a reptile model organism, the leopard gecko. We performed tooth removal surgeries on adult geckos and tracked tooth replacement for over one year post-surgery. The pattern of tooth replacement was analyzed, and preliminary results suggest that signaling between adjacent teeth might be the primary control over the alternating replacement pattern.