Time resolved SAXS for controlled mineralization protocols of calcium phosphate and calcium carbonate in presence of fetuin-A

Biomineralisation is a process by which all living organisms produce mineralized tissues tailored to perform specific functions. Biomineralisation follows a complex and a multistep nucleation pathway understanding of which necessitates understanding the earliest nucleation events and subsequent growth from various possible precursor phases (amorphous or crystalline) to the final mineral phases. Although studied in detail for several decades, the understanding of nucleation and the subsequent growth process is weak, which we attribute to the fact that visualization of this process remains difficult. The experiment proposed here focusses on the time-resolved SAXS measurement to study mineralization of calcium phosphate and calcium carbonate using mineralization protocols well optimized by the involved team. It is expected that the experiment will provide insights into the earliest stages of nucleation of the identified systems with / without the presence of glycoprotein Fetuin-A .