Songtao Shi

It was an unexpectedly auspicious occasion for Songtao Shi when his six-year-old daughter asked him to pull out a loose baby tooth in 2003.

As he was cleaning up the tooth for the tooth fairy, Shi noticed some red-colored tissue inside and had a flash of inspiration. Three years before, he and a colleague at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) had found stem cells in adult teeth. So when his daughter lost a second tooth a few days later, Shi was ready. He rushed it to the lab and soon won acclaim for discovering a new source of stem cells – in children’s primary teeth.

Shi, who holds a D.D.S. and M.S. from Peking University and a Ph.D. from USC, had served on the faculty of Beijing Medical University and worked as a dentist in private practice in L.A. before joining the NIH, where he earned a reputation as a brilliant scientist.

In 2006, he was recruited back to USC as a researcher in the School of Dentistry’s Center for Craniofacial Molecular Biology. Since then, he’s reported a string of significant discoveries.

• In December 2006, PloS One published the results of a study in which Shi and a multinational team of fellow investigators, using stem cells harvested from extracted wisdom teeth, successfully regenerated tooth root and supporting periodontal ligaments to restore tooth function in an animal model.


• In April 2007, Shi and colleagues from Korea and China reported in Stem Cells on their discovery that mesenchymal stem cells extracted from human bone marrow and from the periodontal ligament are capable of regenerating facial bone and skin tissue in mouse and swine models. Potential human applications could run the gamut from repairing severe facial disfigurement to removing wrinkles.


• In October 2007, Shi broke new ground yet again: He and a group of U.S. colleagues had identified unique cells within the adult tendon that have stem-cell characteristics – including the ability to proliferate and self-renew. These findings, published in Nature Medicine, hold promise for the treatment of tendon injuries caused by overuse and trauma.


• In January 2008, the online Stem Cells Express reported that Shi and co-investigators in China had successfully cured periodontitis in swine using autologous periodontal ligament stem cells.

A far cry from playing tooth fairy, Shi also has secured a New Faculty Award from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine – placing him firmly in the vanguard of stem cell research both at USC and around the world.

• Songtao Shi’s faculty Web page
• To read an article about Shi’s work on tendon cells, click here
• To read an article about Shi’s work on mesenchymal stem cells, click here
• To read an article about Shi’s work on stem cells derived from wisdom teeth, click here