Ali Nawshad, PhD, associate professor in the department of oral biology, received a Edna Ittner Pediatric Research Support Fund grant award for the study of diseases and birth defects of children.
“Cleft palate is one of the most common human congenital birth defects and by far the most common craniofacial defect that affects about 1 in 100 births in the United States," Dr. Nawshad said. "Our lab has previously identified the pathways used by TGFbeta3 gene that regulate normal palate development and in absence of which cleft palate defect arises."
"With this grant, my lab will attempt to rescue cleft palate defect in triple transgenic mice by manipulating number of genes including TGFbeta3. We hope that our result will shed some light in genetic intervention to rescue and repair cleft palate in humans,” Dr. Nawshad said.