Toby Hughes

Biography

I hold a PhD in genetics from the University of Adelaide and I currently work as a senior lecturer in the School of Dentistry. I am a member of Professor Grant Townsend's Craniofacial Biology Research Group. Professor Townsend's group has spent the past 20 years, with continuous support from the NHMRC, assembling a large collection of longitudinal dental records from Australian twins/sib-pairs and their families. The collection is unique within Australia and one of very few worldwide. I have been conducting research on these data, with the aim of identifying genetic and environmental influences on craniofacial growth and development. The group is now entering an exciting new phase of research, making use of modern molecular genetic techniques to identify genes associated with dental development and oral health. I hold a PhD in genetics from the University of Adelaide and I currently work as a senior lecturer in the School of Dentistry. I am a member of Professor Grant Townsend's Craniofacial Biology Research Group. Professor Townsend's group has spent the past 20 years, with continuous support from the NHMRC, assembling a large collection of longitudinal dental records from Australian twins/sib-pairs and their families. The collection is unique within Australia and one of very few worldwide. I have been conducting research on these data, with the aim of identifying genetic and environmental influences on craniofacial growth and development. The group is now entering an exciting new phase of research, making use of modern molecular genetic techniques to identify genes associated with dental development and oral health.

Research Interest

My primary research interest is identifying genes associated with dental development and oral health. Other interests include genotype x genotype interactions associated with oral micro-flora, functional genomics of oral development, and epigenetic modulation of gene expression. I am currently involved in a number of research projects with common underlying themes. One is modelling family data to establish the relative contributions of genes and environment to observed variation in features such as tooth size and spacing, cusp spacing, 3D surface morphology, arch shape, and occlusion. I have developed longitudinal models to identify common and unique genetic factors associated with the primary, mixed and permanent dentitions. Another project is examining two closely related developmental events in Australian newborn twins - timing of emergence of the primary teeth and timing of colonisation of the oral cavity by Mutans streptococci, a primary agent in dental decay. Evidence suggests the prevalence of delayed tooth emergence is increasing in developed populations, presenting a smaller window of opportunity for colonisation and reducing the incidence of decay in primary teeth. Both projects establish a baseline to develop models incorporating molecular data arising from the human genome project. We are planning to conduct genetic linkage and association analyses on data arising from both studies, to identify specific genes that contribute significantly to orofacial growth and development, and to oral health.