Using Viruses and Maple Compounds to Combat Cavities

UW undergrad conducts oral health research, helps found company

Few undergraduate students can say they’ve been the lead author on a research paper in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. Even fewer can claim they’ve helped found a business. But pre-dental student Lucas Wall has done both.

Wall, a rising senior in UW’s molecular biology department, has received regional accolades for his research on cavity-causing bacteria. He also collaborated with molecular biologist Mark Gomelsky, business management student Leo Gomelsky, and postdoctoral researcher Ahmed Elbakush to launch MayPall, a company that helps consumers fight cavities using a unique maple-based mouthwash.

Wall’s accomplishments may help pave the way to novel strategies to protect teeth from cavities.

Targeted treatments

Cavities are caused by the bacteria Streptococcus mutans (Strep. mutans), which clings to teeth surfaces. When you consume sugar products, Strep. mutans eats that sugar too, and creates lactic acid as a byproduct. Lactic acid forms cavities by eroding teeth enamel.

Right out of high school, Wall wanted to study a subject related to oral health. He decided to examine the relationship between Strep. mutans and bacteriophages, which are viruses that attack bacteria. Specifically, he studied how Strep. mutans defends itself against these viruses.

Most anti-cavity products use chemicals like fluoride, alcohol, or peroxide to wipe out bacteria. But these chemicals do not discriminate between harmful and beneficial oral microbes.

In contrast, bacteriophages are viruses that can specifically target Strep. mutans with laser-like precision. In principle, these viruses could allow humans to destroy Strep. mutans and the cavities they cause without collateral damage.

Although bacteriophages offer a promising targeted approach to preventing cavities, scientists must understand how Strep. mutans responds to these viruses before such treatments could become available on the market.

Understanding bacterial defenses

To get inside bacterial cells, viruses first bind to receptors on the cell’s surface. Each strain of virus has a specific “key” for a certain bacteria’s receptor “lock,” allowing these bacteriophages to target certain bacteria without harming others.

Bacteria can prevent viruses from infecting them by changing the receptors on their cell surface. Once the bacterial cell has changed its receptors, the virus can no longer fit the “lock” unless it adapts and changes its “key.”

The receptors are crucial for Strep. mutans' ability to stick to teeth and other oral bacteria. Wall also found that receptors are essential for the bacteria to properly replicate itself and grow. Changing the locks can keep viruses out, but this change can also hinder the bacteria’s ability carry out basic life functions.

Strep. mutans also has another way of resisting viruses. Bacteria have evolved an adaptive immune system, analogous to the human immune system, that they use to recognize and destroy specific viruses that they have previously encountered. Wall’s research examined how and when Strep. mutans uses this system, called CRISPR.

Wall found that, in some cases, a Strep. mutans bacterium changing its receptors to escape viruses prevented that bacterium from being able to effectively form cavities. On the other hand, Strep. mutans cells that used their adaptive immunity system instead of changing receptors were still able escape viral infection and form cavities.

Wall’s research is an important first step in understanding how Strep. mutans defends against viruses.

Opportunities for undergrads

Wall co-authored his Strep. mutans research with Dan Wall, chair of the Department of Molecular Biology. Their research was published in the journal Microbiology.

As a junior in college, becoming the lead researcher of a paper published in a leading journal is an almost unheard-of honor.

“I feel like at a lot of other large institutes, it can be difficult to get involved in interesting research, let alone research that you want to do and are passionate about,” says Wall. “UW is really unique because it’s super easy to get involved in these type[s] of opportunities.”

Wall has taken advantage of multiple opportunities. He took part in a Wyoming IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE)[1] research fellowship and the Wyoming Research Scholars Program fellowship, both of which offer mentorship and financial support for exceptional student researchers.  

Wall won first place for his undergraduate oral presentation at the American Society for Microbiology’s 2025 Rocky Mountain branch conference.

From cantaloupe to cavities

Wall isn’t the only person who’s conducted groundbreaking research in UW’s molecular biology department.

[1] The IDeA, or Institutional Development Award, program was established in 1993 by the National Institutes of Health as a means to support biomedical research. The IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) Program supports statewide biomedical research developments in IDeA-eligible states, including Wyoming (#5P20GM103432).