Hlusko’s research explores how genetic variation influences dental variation, and how that relationship has evolved through time. Her research group primarily studies mammals but with an emphasis on humans and non-human primates. For example, she led the research that used dental variation to reveal an episode of intense environmental selection on humans living in the Arctic during the last ice age (~18,000 years ago). Her current projects include evolutionary quantitative genetics of primate dental variation, paleoanthropological field studies in Tanzania and Ethiopia to recover and describe new fossils documenting human evolution, human dental variation and adaptation, and most recently, she is undertaking a project in paleoproteomics as part of CENIEH’s new initiative in this area.