Twins Research Australia

Research Overview

Twins Research Australia is a national organisation open to all researchers to access. We undertake and support research involving twins to address priority health challenges facing Australians and the global population.

By examining the differences and similarities of twins, research can tease apart the complex interplay between genetics, epigenetics and the environment.

Twin research continues to play a major role in transforming our understanding of disease and future prevention and treatment relevant to the whole population.

Twins Research Australia (TRA) (formally the Australian Twin Registry) was established over 40 years ago as a national resource of twins and their families for health research. We have contributed to high impact findings in epilepsy, breast cancer, melanoma, smoking, bone and dental health – and continue to support research in obesity, dementia and mental illness plus many other health related fields.

To date we have supported over 284 researchers to conduct 263 studies which have produced more than 1261 publications.

Currently there are over 75,000 twins registered with TRA of all ages, zygosity (identical and non-identical) and different states of health from around Australia. On the whole they tend to be representative of the Australian population and therefore have a similar percentage of disease which provides a unique “people bank” to address a wide range of health-related issues.

For further information visit www.twins.org.au

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Staff

The Late Professor John Hopper, TRA Co-Founder & Director 1990-2024
Dr Sue Malta, TRA Deputy Director and Program Manager
Professor Jeff Craig, TRA Deputy Director, Stakeholder Engagement
Dr Lucas Calais Ferreira, TRA Deputy Director, Research
Lynette Walker, TRA Deputy Director, Communications
Jess Tyler, Research Coordinator
Alison Wright, Administration and Research Project Support
Alexander Campbell, Project Researcher

Collaborators

We collaborate with many research teams from Australian and international universities and research institutes including the University of Sydney, Neuroscience Research Australia, University of Western Australia, University of Aberdeen, Monash University, Deakin University, Sydney’s Children Hospital and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute amongst others.

We also collaborate with twins and multiple-birth organisations such as:
International Society for Twin Studies
International twin resources and registries
Australian Multiple Birth Association
International Council of Multiple Birth Organisations

Funding

Twins Research Australia has received continuous funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council since 1981, most recently through a Centre of Research Excellence Grant (2015-2022). Currently, TRA receives support through collaborations with the new centres of research excellence for Breast Cancer Screening and Genetic Epidemiology, and the National Breast Cancer Foundation. It also receives reimbursements from researchers and research groups who use our services for study development, recruitment and analysis. TRA is administered by the University of Melbourne.