Robert Hinton, PhD

Biography

Education and Post-Graduate Training

• Postdoctoral Fellowship, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology & Center for Human Growth & Development, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI (1980-1983)
• M.S., Ph.D. in biological anthropology, Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI (1979)
• B.S. in nuclear engineering, University of Tennessee (Knoxville) (1968)

Career History

• Director of Undergraduate Teaching and Faculty Mentoring, Department of Biomedical Sciences, 2008-2012
• Texas A&M System Regents Professor, 2010-
• Associate Chair/ Vice Chair, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Baylor College of Dentistry, 1999-2003, 2006- 2008.
• Acting Chair, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Baylor College of Dentistry, 2003-2006.
• Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Baylor College of Dentistry, 2004 to present.
• Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Baylor College of Dentistry, 1992 - 2004.
• Associate Professor, Department of Anatomy, Baylor College of Dentistry, 1988- 1992.
• Faculty, Center for Craniofacial Research and Diagnosis, Baylor College of Dentistry, 1994 -2012
• Graduate Faculty, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, 1999 - 2012
• Graduate Faculty, Baylor University (Waco), 1985 -1995.
• Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy, Baylor College of Dentistry, 1983- 1988.
• Lecturer in Medical Gross Anatomy, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Michigan, 1982

Honors and Awards

• Tau Beta Pi (Engineering Honorary), elected 1967.
• NIDR Postdoctoral Fellowship (National Research Service Award F32 DE05279), University of Michigan and Center for Human Growth and Development, 1980- 1983.
• Nominated for Teacher-of-the-Year (dental), 1995, 2005, 2007 (finalist), 2008 (finalist), 2009, 2010 (finalist), 2011
• Nominated for Teacher-of-the-Year (dental hygiene), 2004
• Omicron Kappa Upsilon (Dentistry Honorary), elected honorary member 2006
• BCD nominee for the Piper Professor Award, 2009
• 2010 Golden Apple Educator Award, Department of Biomedical Sciences
• Selected as Texas A&M System Regents Professor, 2010

Teaching Interests

Human Gross Anatomy (dental students), Integrated Biomedical Sciences (dental hygiene students), Evidence-Based Dentistry (dental students, dental faculty), Advanced Human Craniofacial Development and Craniofacial Anomalies, Cell and Molecular Biology of Oral and Craniofacial Tissues. I served as representative to the State Anatomical Board of Texas from 1992 to 2003 and was a member of the National Board Anatomic Sciences Test Construction Committee, Joint Commission on National Dental Examinations (JCNDE) from 2008 to 2011.

Research Interests

I have a general interest in craniofacial growth and development, with a special emphasis on development, growth, adaptation, aging, and degeneration in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and in other secondary cartilages.         The major thrust of my research was directed at understanding how the cartilage at the TMJ responds to biomechanical and hormonal stimulation. My postdoctoral work involved histological studies of changes in the joint of rhesus monkeys following placement of various appliances that altered the position of the lower jaw and/or the functional activity of the masticatory muscles.  During that time, I began to explore the rat as a model more suited to quantitative biochemical assays of joint metabolic activity and my research at Baylor followed this path from 1983 to the early 1990s.   I and my co-investigators examined whether the chondroprogenitor cells of the mandibular condylar cartilage and the osteoprogenitor cells of cranial sutures share regulatory extracellular matrix molecules and cell-surface receptors that are distinct from those of the chondrocytes in primary cartilage, focusing on expression of mediators of cell fate such as Twist, Runx2, and Notch 1.  Subsequently, we investigated the consequences of blockage of signaling in these pathways on proliferation and differentiation.  Improved understanding of these issues is critical, as most concepts of temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMD) approach the TMJ as a synovial joint containing a typical articular cartilage.  If the perichondrial cells in MCC share regulatory features with cells in sutures rather than those in primary cartilages, this assumption is not only erroneous but may lead to inappropriate treatment strategies.  These studies were supported by an R23 and two R01 grants from NIDCR, as well as Foundation grants from orthodontics and oral surgery.

With Peter Buschang (Orthodontics, BCD), I published a series of papers examining the extent to which a skeletal structure’s response to epigenetic and environmental stimuli is directly proportional to its maturity status. We focused our studies on the craniofacial complex because it exhibits a wide growth maturity gradient and is, therefore, ideally suited to test the hypothesis of differential response potential to the same stimulus across structures.  Because growth hormone (GH) is a major epigenetic factor controlling somatic growth and maturation, several of our studies investigated the effects of GH deficits/supplementation on craniofacial growth.  Our paper using mutant rats deficient in growth hormone won the 2004 Milo Hellman Research Award from the American Association of Orthodontists.

From 2008-2012, I was also the contact principal investigator on an Oral Health Research Education Grant funded in 2008 by NIH (NIDCR) that created a curricular theme throughout all four years of dental school centered on the knowledge, principles, and skills of scientific inquiry necessary for the dentist to critically evaluate new information and advances in treatment for evidence-based practice and to participate in dental practice research networks.   A secondary goal of the grant was to establish an enrichment track for 2-3 students per class that will nourish their aspirations to become dental academics and clinical researchers. 

Beginning just before my retirement, I entered into a productive collaboration with a colleague, Dr Jerry Feng, regarding the specific genes that regulate postnatal growth of the mandibular condylar cartilage.    In a series of papers, we studied TMJ phenotypes in mice with knockout or over-expression of bone morphogenetic protein receptor 1a (Bmpr1a) or β-catenin (β-cat) that affect both chondrogenesis and osteogenesis.  We employed cell lineage tracing techniques to demonstrate the importance of chondrocytes as a source of bone cells during endochondral ossification.  

Recent Grants

PI, Regulation of Mandibular Condylar Cartilage Growth, NIH R01, 2003-2007

Co-PI, CUSPID: Baylor’s Oral Health Research Education Grant, NIH R25, 2008-2012

Consultant, Chondrocyte-derived Bone Cells Define the TMJ Pattern and Remodeling NIH R01 (Feng, PI), 2016-2021         

Recent Publications

1. Singleton DA*, Buschang PH, Behrents R, Hinton RJ  Craniofacial growth in growth hormone-deficient rats following growth hormone supplementation.  Am. J. Orthod. Dentofac. Orthoped., 130: 69-82, 2006
2. Hinton RJ, Serrano M, So S Differential gene expression in the perichondrium and cartilage of the neonatal mouse temporomandibular joint.  Orthod. Craniofac. Res., 12: 168-177, 2009.
3. Hinton RJ, Serrano M, So S Differential gene expression in the perichondrium and cartilage of the neonatal mouse temporomandibular joint.  Orthod. Craniofac. Res., 12: 168-177, 2009.
4. Hinton RJ, Dechow PC, Abdellatif H, Jones DL, McCann AL, Schneiderman ED, D’Souza RD  The winds of change: creating an “EBD culture” at Baylor College of Dentistry.  J. Dent. Educ., 75: 279-290, 2011.
5. Serrano M, Svoboda KH, So S, Hinton RJ  Cell fate mediators Notch and Twist in mouse mandibular condylar cartilage.  Archs. Oral Biol., 56: 607-613, 2011.
6. Jing JJ, Hinton RJ, Mishina Y, Liu Y, Zhou X, Feng JQ  Critical role of Bmpr1a in mandibular   condyle growth. Conn. Tiss. Res.,55 (Suppl 1): 73-78, 2014.
7. Serrano MJ, So S, Hinton RJ.  Roles of Notch signaling in mandibular condylar cartilage.  Arch. Oral Biol., 59: 735-740, 2014.
8. Hinton RJ Genes that regulate the morphogenesis and growth of the temporomandibular joint: a review.  Dev. Dyn., 243: 864-874, 2014.
9. Jing J, Hinton RJ, Jing Y, Ying L, Xuedong Z, Feng JQ .  Osterix couples chondrogenesis and osteogenesis in postnatal condyle growth.   J. Dent. Res., 93: 1014-1021, 2014.
10. Hinton RJ, McCann AL, Schneiderman ED, Dechow PD.  The winds of change revisited: progress towards building a culture of evidence-based dentistry.  J. Dent. Educ., 79:499-509, 2015.
11. Hinton RJ, Jing Y, Jing, J, Feng JQ.  Roles of chondrocytes in endochondral bone formation and fracture repair.  J. Dent. Res., 2017 Jan; 96(1):23-30. doi: 10.1177/0022034516668321. 
12. Jing Y, Jing J, Wang K, Chan K, Harris SE, Hinton RJ, Feng JQ.  Vital roles of β-catenin in trans-differentiation of chondrocytes to bone cells.  Intl. J Biol. Sci. 14(1): 1-9. Doi: 10.7150/jibs.23165, 2018.