Toby Hughes

Professor Toby Hughes is a faculty member at the University of Adelaide, affiliated with the Adelaide Dental School within the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences. His research focuses on early life factors influencing health and development, particularly the interplay between genetics, epigenetics, environment, and the oral microbiome. Key areas include craniofacial development, dental anthropology, forensic odontology, and machine learning applications in biology. He supervises Masters and PhD students and collaborates with institutions in Sydney, Melbourne, and the USA.

Research interests include the role of the oral microbiome in health/disease, speech development linked to oral anatomy, prenatal influences on health, and dietary impacts. He leads projects in epigenetics (DNA methylation), microbiome transmission, craniofacial growth analysis (using 3D imaging and geometric morphometrics), and quantitative genetics analyzing twin cohorts.

Recent publications (2024–2025) address palatal morphology genetics, dental arch development, forensic 3D imaging, and microbiome studies. Grants include funding from the National Institutes of Health, NHMRC, and Kwok Paul Lee Endowment for projects on microbiome surveillance, craniofacial software development, and twin cohort analyses.

• Supervision: Eligible to mentor postgraduate researchers in genetics, microbiology, and biostatistics.
• Labs: Operates wet and dry labs with expertise in bioinformatics and big data analysis.