Dr Vinet Coetzee, lecturer in the Department of Genetics, is the principal investigator of the Facial Morphology Research group.
A critical facet of Dr Coetzee’s work is a facial screening project, partly sponsored by Canon SA, to help to build a 3D camera for early diagnosis of disorders in children, particularly African children. She also studies the ways in which facial structure and colour can give an indication of measures of health, such as Body Mass Index (BMI), diet, respiratory infections, cardiovascular health, immunity and genetic variation of immune-associated genes in adults.
Dr Coetzee says Africa has many unique health challenges that often require creative solutions. More research is needed to identify the specific facial features associated with disorders such as Down Syndrome in African infants and children. “We need accurate facial photographs of children with and without disorders, and 3D images are ideal because they contain information along a range of dimensions, so we can identify key facial features more accurately.”
Her research draws together expertise from a range of fields to identify congenital conditions in young infants and she has built up a network over time, which now consists of over 30 collaborators from 10 different countries. Many African infants with Down Syndrome are only diagnosed at seven months or older, but this research will enable more effective screening of congenital conditions, and will allow health care workers to detect these conditions earlier and more accurately, allowing for better interventions.
Dr Coetzee plans to start a Facial Morphology Research Centre to take full advantage of the interdisciplinary nature of this field. Her goal is to stimulate public engagement with science by developing interactive exhibits that can teach children, and the young at heart, about research, and science more generally.
