dentaltownuk news Sonic Hedgehog Signalling and Craniofacial Development-Discovering the Weird and the Wonderful Professor Martyn Cobourne will deliver the Northcroft Memorial Lecture at the British Orthodontic Conference in September, when he will talk about his work on the sonic hedgehog gene and its role in craniofacial development. Understanding the function of this gene is of interest to orthodontists because of the essential role it plays during many aspects of craniofacial development, including normal formation of the face and regulating the number of teeth that form and patterning of the rugae, the small ridges of tissue found in the roof of the mouth. Cobourne is academic head of orthodontics at Kings College London Dental Institute and works as an honorary consultant in orthodontics at Guy's and Thomas's NHS Foundation Trust. For the past 20 years he has worked as an academic orthodontist at King's and has published more than 120 academic papers. 42 JUNE 2018 // dentaltownuk.com The invitation to deliver the British Orthodontic Society's Northcroft lecture is one of the highest accolades for an orthodontist. The lecture is named after George Northcroft, who's considered to be the father of academic orthodontics in the UK. With the title of The Weird and the Wonderful: Hedgehog Signalling in Craniofacial Development, Cobourne's presentation will reveal why this gene has such an esoteric name and discuss how it patterns the facial region of the embryo during normal development. He will also talk about his career as an academic orthodontist and discuss future challenges for academic members of this dental specialty. The Northcroft lecture will be a highlight of the British Orthodontic Conference, which this year has the theme Ortho360. It takes place from 27-29th September at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London More information can be found here. ■https://www.bos.org.uk/News-and-Events/Events/BOC-London-2018 http://www.dentaltownuk.com