Streptococcus dentisani's antimicrobial peptides: new strategy against oral diseases of microbial origin.
Billions of people suffer from oral diseases world-wide while oral health treatments are not affordable for everyone.  Goal 3 of the United Nations Sustainable Development challenge/priority programs, to be reached by 2030, is to promote “access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines [..] for all”. The WHO points therefore towards cost-effective oral disease prevention as a key strategy to reach a universal health care access. The main scientific objective of SMILES is identifying, characterizing, and harnessing antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) produced by Streptococcus dentisani and select cocktails with biomedical application in the treatment of caries and periodontitis. S. dentisani is a probiotic bacterium which produces AMPs, and which is naturally found in oral disease-free individuals maintaining the balance for a healthy oral microbiota. Caries and periodontitis are two oral diseases resulting from microbial dysbiosis. These cocktails could be incorporated in the future as additives in conventional oral hygiene products (ex. toothpaste), as oral disease preventive agents accessible for the public independently of their monetary resources. Dr. Revilla-Guarinos has expertise in antimicrobial resistance and will lead SMILES. The research and training at the academic host institution will be complemented with an intersectoral secondment in DENTAID (an oral health care products leading company), international networking & collaborations, specialized training courses & complementary skills workshops. Dissemination & exploitation activities, as well as communication & outreach events will promote the action and its results. The overarching ambition of this action is training and preparing Dr. Revilla-Guarinos for her to start her own group in academia or, alternatively, to develop a new path by changing to a career in industry, working at the forefront of Applied Microbiology in Europe.