For Dr. Huggins, the primary goal of his laboratory is to make discoveries relevant to human diseases for the purpose of understanding the biology of human development and disease that, in addition to providing greater insight into mechanisms of disease, may also translate to biomarkers or therapies. To achieve this goal, whenever possible his laboratory seeks to make primary discoveries by studying human DNA and/or tissues. Genes or pathways identified through discovery work based upon human samples then serve as the basis for traditional hypothesis-oriented research in animal and cellular model systems. Dr. Huggins has been privileged to mentor graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. In addition to his work in Tufts Medical Center, he is a faculty member at Tufts Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Genetics Program and Cell, Molecular and Developmental Biology Program.