{"id":131229,"date":"2026-04-13T01:56:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T06:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=131229"},"modified":"2026-04-10T14:10:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T19:10:01","slug":"dentistry-students-research-impresses-at-annual-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2026\/04\/13\/dentistry-students-research-impresses-at-annual-exhibition\/","title":{"rendered":"Dentistry students’ research impresses at annual exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Two UNMC College of Dentistry students recently earned national honors presenting at the combined 104th General Session & Exhibition of the International Association for Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Research 55th Annual Meeting & Exhibition of the American Association for Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Research and 50th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourth-year dental students Tanner Delaney and Mikah Hoppens have been research partners for years. Their project, “Genetically Rescuing Cleft Palate: A Novel Approach to Correct Cleft Palate in TGF\u03b23\u207b\/\u207b Mice,” was one of just 14 among thousands of abstracts nominated to be selected as finalists at the exhibition. The session was held March 25-28 in San Diego.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delaney was set to present at the National Student Research Group 411 Rapid Research competition at the exhibition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s modeled after a three-minute thesis defense competition,” Delaney said. “How well are you able to take a complex scientific research project and convey it to a lay audience that makes sense and is engaging.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Active-duty commitments with the U.S. Army kept him from traveling, and he was unable attend in person along with the other finalists. Delaney was granted permission to present remotely in the rapid research contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy face was on a laptop. I couldn\u2019t see my slide at all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet he was still able to impress the judges and the assembled audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was able to watch Tanner\u2019s presentation. I thought he presented beautifully,\u201d Hoppens said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His second-place award was the highest ranking ever achieved in the annual contest by a student at the UNMC College of Dentistry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019d also qualified but was unable to compete in the Student Competition for Advancing Dental Research and its Application\/Dentsply Sirona National Award Competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Hoppens presented in person at the San Diego conference for the 2026 IADR Craniofacial Biology Group Junior Award. “Smoke Exposure During Pregnancy Alters Palatal Morphology and Gene Expression” was chosen as one of five finalists out of about 150 abstracts submitted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said attending the meeting was a great experience. \u201cI got to meet with a lot of really awesome faculty from other schools and hear their insights on directions we could go with our research.\u201d Many of them, she said, had connections to her mentor Ali Nawshad, PhD, professor of oral biology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hoppens\u2019 and Delaney\u2019s projects were supervised by Dr. Nawshad and funded by his National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research R56 grant (1R56DE026464-01A1) and a UNMC faculty development research grant. Funding for the student research fellowships was provided by the UNMC College of Dentistry Office of Research.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fourth-year dental students Tanner Delaney and Mikah Hoppens were honored at event. 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