An oral sciences Ph.D student is advancing research that could help our understanding of cleft lip and palate—one of the most common craniofacial birth disorders worldwide.

Emmanuel Aladenika, a fourth-year PhD candidate in the Department of Oral Sciences, works with mentor Azeez Butali, professor and global leader in craniofacial genetics. Aladenika studies how variations in genetic “switches,” known as enhancers, can disrupt normal facial development. He presented his research during the Graduate College's Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition in November.

"By finding and testing these harmful enhancer variants, we are getting closer to understanding how cleft forms and in the future, we will be able to use this knowledge to prevent cleft from occurring," Aladenika shared in his 3MT presentation.

Using genomic data from African children with clefts and their unaffected parents—along with experimental validation in mouse models—Aladenika identified variants that change the activity of a key enhancer. Those changes, he says, may help explain how certain clefts form. His findings help close an important knowledge gap in understanding the role of enhancers in craniofacial development.