Stephanie Hughes

Stephanie Margaret Hughes is a New Zealand molecular neurobiologist, and is a full professor at the University of Otago, specialising in gene therapy for the fatal childhood disorders known as Batten disease.

Academic career

Hughes grew up in Wellington, and is from a family with a four-generation history of land surveying. Hughes attended Victoria University of Wellington, where she first intended to study maths and statistics, but took an honours degree in genetics and molecular biology instead. As of 2024 Hughes is the Director of the Brain Health Research Centre at Otago.

Hughes's research focuses on the neurobiology of Batten disease. Hughes and her research group developed a gene therapy for one form of the disease, CLN5, which has progressed to clinical trials in humans. Hughes's laboratory also developed human induced pluripotent stem cells which are better models than animal cells, and can be used to study other disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease.

Hughes has received research funding from the Marsden fund, the Health Research Council, the Neurological Foundation and Cure Kids.

Selected works