Overview
Background
Professor Pettit leads the Bones and Immunology Research Group at Mater Research Institute-UQ and is Director of Biomedical Research for Mater Research. Professor Pettit has led multidisciplinary research discovering intersecting biological mechanisms across the fields of immunology, rheumatology, cancer biology, haematology and bone biology. Professor Pettit is currently a UQ Amplify recipient associated with an ARC Future Fellowship, 2017-2020 and CIA on an NHMRC Ideas Grant, 2022-25. Major contributions led by Professor Pettit include the paradigm shifting discovery of a novel population of resident macrophages, osteal macrophages (osteomacs), and their role in promoting bone formation and bone regeneration after injury. Her team have published over 17 manuscripts based on this original discovery (with over 1700 citations) including translation of this basic research discovery toward eluciating novel disease mechanism from cancer bone metastasis to osteoporosis. This also led to the novel discovery of bone marrow resident macrophage contributions to supporting blood stem cells niches and the key role that these cells play in protecting this vital niche from cancer therapies. Bone marrow and specifically haematopoietic stem cell damage is one of the most serious and life-threatening side effects of cancer therapies. Here discoveries are cited in over 117 patent documents and she is currently collaborating with a major pharmaceutical partner.
Professor Pettit's leadership and achievements have been recognised through multiple awards including the 2019 UQ Faculty of Medicine Leader of the Year (Academic), Women in Technology 2018 Life Sciences Outstanding Achievement Award and becoming a Fellow of the American Society of Bone and Mineral Research. Professor Pettit has been invited to give numerous presentations at national and international conferences including Seoul Symposium on Bone Health, Asia-Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology Congress and a prestigious American Society of Bone and Mineral Research Meet-the-Professor session. Professor Pettit is and Associate Editor for the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, is an past Council member for the Australian and New Zealand Bone and Mineral Society, and chairs or serves on numerous committees including the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes Gender Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee. PhD candidates under Professor Pettit's supervision have all been supported by scholarships (including 2 x NHMRC), received numerous local and national awards (e.g. Dr Alexander, ASMR QLD Premier Postgraduate Award, 2011 and Dr Lena Batoon won the UQ Faculty of Medicine Graduate of the Year Award, 2021), all had high quality first author publications at completion and 2 received UQ Dean’s Commendations.
Availability
- Professor Allison Pettit is:
- Available for supervision
- Media expert
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Bachelor (Honours) of Science (Advanced), Griffith University
- Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland
Research impacts
- Discovery that the transcription factor RelB is a critical molecular mediator of dendritic cell antigen presentation and extended this to show that RelB expressing dendritic cells have critical roles in the initiation and perpetuation of joint inflammation in inflammatory arthritis. These discoveries were used by my principal HDR supervisor (Professor Ranjeny Thomas; https://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/396) as the knowledge platform to develop the first vaccine therapy for rheumatoid arthritis.
- Demonstration that RANKL is the essential and rate limiting cytokine required for osteoclast formation and focal bone erosion in inflammatory arthritis. This research output influenced pharmaceutical industry development of the blockbuster drug Denosumab.
- Leadership of the paradigm shifting discovery of a novel population of resident macrophages, osteal macrophages (osteomacs), and their novel role in promoting osteoblastic bone formation and bone regeneration after injury. This has completely changed how the bone and mineral/orthopaedic research field views macrophage contributions to bone health and disease and has influence parallel fields including tissue regeneration and biomaterials.
- Discovery that macrophages regulate haematopoietic stem cell (HSC) niche homeostasis. The landmark paper on which I am co-first author is a Web of Science highly cited paper (top 1% or research outputs) that has been cited by papers spanning 46 research fields. We have since extended this discovery to demonstrate that resident macrophage resilience to lethal radiation is essential for bone marrow recovery and successful HSC engraftment and haematopoietic reconstitution post-HSC transplantation (senior author manuscript in Blood, 2018).
- Exposed that resident tissue macropahges are fragmented during tissue single cell suspension generation, leaving behind encapsulated remnants of themselves that have detectable cell membrane proteins, intracellur proteins and reporter molecules and RNAs. This undermindes the accuracy of burgeoning high parameter technologies focussed on single cell analysis (e.g. flow cytometry, single cell RNAseq, CITESeq, etc) as depending on the tissue disaggregation and analysis strategy, macrophages are under-represented relative to their abundance in tissues and/or macrophage-expressed genes are mistakenly attributed to non-macrophage cells and vice versa
Works
Search Professor Allison Pettit’s works on UQ eSpace
2024
Journal Article
Induction of osteoblast apoptosis stimulates macrophage efferocytosis and paradoxical bone formation
Batoon, Lena, Koh, Amy Jean, Millard, Susan Marie, Grewal, Jobanpreet, Choo, Fang Ming, Kannan, Rahasudha, Kinnaird, Aysia, Avey, Megan, Teslya, Tatyana, Pettit, Allison Robyn, McCauley, Laurie K. and Roca, Hernan (2024). Induction of osteoblast apoptosis stimulates macrophage efferocytosis and paradoxical bone formation. Bone Research, 12 (1) 43, 43. doi: 10.1038/s41413-024-00341-9
2024
Journal Article
Relative contributions of osteal macrophages and osteoclasts to postnatal bone development in CSF1R-deficient rats and phenotype rescue following wild-type bone marrow cell transfer
Batoon, Lena, Keshvari, Sahar, Irvine, Katharine M, Ho, Eileen, Caruso, Melanie, Patkar, Omkar L, Sehgal, Anuj, Millard, Susan M, Hume, David A and Pettit, Allison R (2024). Relative contributions of osteal macrophages and osteoclasts to postnatal bone development in CSF1R-deficient rats and phenotype rescue following wild-type bone marrow cell transfer. Journal of Leukocyte Biology, 116 (4), 753-765. doi: 10.1093/jleuko/qiae077
2024
Journal Article
Reversible expansion of tissue macrophages in response to macrophage colony-stimulating factor (CSF1) transforms systemic lipid and carbohydrate metabolism
Keshvari, Sahar, Masson, Jesse J.R., Ferrari-Cestari, Michelle, Bodea, Liviu-Gabriel, Nooru-Mohamed, Fathima, Tse, Brian W.C., Sokolowski, Kamil A., Batoon, Lena, Patkar, Omkar L., Sullivan, Mitchell A., Ebersbach, Hilmar, Stutz, Cian, Parton, Robert G., Summers, Kim M., Pettit, Allison R., Hume, David A. and Irvine, Katharine M. (2024). Reversible expansion of tissue macrophages in response to macrophage colony-stimulating factor (CSF1) transforms systemic lipid and carbohydrate metabolism. American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism, 326 (2), E149-E165. doi: 10.1152/ajpendo.00347.2023
2023
Journal Article
Macrophage heterogeneity in the single cell era: facts and artefacts
Hume, David A., Millard, Susan M. and Pettit, Allison R. (2023). Macrophage heterogeneity in the single cell era: facts and artefacts. Blood Journal, 142 (16), 1339-1347. doi: 10.1182/blood.2023020597
2023
Conference Publication
1511 Macrophages regulate endothelial progenitors’ quiescence and self-renewal during homeostasis and cutaneous wound healing via paracrine signaling
Sim, S., Kaur, S., Styke, C., Millard, S., Blumenthal, A., Pettit, A. and Khosrotehrani, K. (2023). 1511 Macrophages regulate endothelial progenitors’ quiescence and self-renewal during homeostasis and cutaneous wound healing via paracrine signaling. 1st International Societies for Investigative Dermatology Meeting, Tokyo, Japan, 10 - 13 May 2023. Oxford, United Kingdom: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.jid.2023.03.1528
2023
Conference Publication
Mechanisms underlying the rescue of postnatal bone development in CSF1R-deficient rats following wild-type bone marrow cell transfer
Batoon, Lena, Keshvari, Sahar, Irvine, Katharine, Caruso, Melanie, Patkar, Omkar, Sehgal, Anuj, Millard, Susan, Hume, David and Pettit, Allison (2023). Mechanisms underlying the rescue of postnatal bone development in CSF1R-deficient rats following wild-type bone marrow cell transfer. 2022 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, Austin, TX, United States, 9-12 September 2022. Hoboken, NJ, United States: Wiley-Blackwell.
2023
Conference Publication
HSC Niche Molecular Deconvolution Toward Improved Understanding Of Intrinsic And Extrinsic HSC Regulation
Millard, Susan, Kaur, Simranpreet, Choo, Fang Ming and Pettit, Allison (2023). HSC Niche Molecular Deconvolution Toward Improved Understanding Of Intrinsic And Extrinsic HSC Regulation. 2023 Annual Scientific Meeting of the ISEH – International Society for Experimental Hematology, New York, NY United States, 17-20 August 2023. Philadelphia, PA United States: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.exphem.2023.06.259
2023
Conference Publication
HSC Niche Molecular Deconvolution Toward Improved Understanding of Intrinsic And Extrinsic HSC Regulation
Millard, Susan, Kaur, Simranpreet, Choo, Fang Ming and Pettit, Allison (2023). HSC Niche Molecular Deconvolution Toward Improved Understanding of Intrinsic And Extrinsic HSC Regulation. 52nd Annual Meeting of the International-Society-for-Experimental-Hematology (ISEH), New York, NY United States, 17-20 August 2023. Philadelphia, PA United States: Elsevier.
2022
Journal Article
Interleukin‐1 is overexpressed in injured muscles following spinal cord injury and promotes neurogenic heterotopic ossification
Tseng, Hsu‐Wen, Kulina, Irina, Girard, Dorothée, Gueguen, Jules, Vaquette, Cedryck, Salga, Marjorie, Fleming, Whitney, Jose, Beulah, Millard, Susan M., Pettit, Allison R., Schroder, Kate, Thomas, Gethin, Wheeler, Lawrie, Genêt, François, Banzet, Sébastien, Alexander, Kylie A. and Levesque, Jean‐Pierre (2022). Interleukin‐1 is overexpressed in injured muscles following spinal cord injury and promotes neurogenic heterotopic ossification. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, 37 (3), 531-546. doi: 10.1002/jbmr.4482
2022
Journal Article
Spinal cord injury reprograms muscle fibroadipogenic progenitors to form heterotopic bones within muscles
Tseng, Hsu-Wen, Girard, Dorothée, Alexander, Kylie A., Millard, Susan M., Torossian, Frédéric, Anginot, Adrienne, Fleming, Whitney, Gueguen, Jules, Goriot, Marie-Emmanuelle, Clay, Denis, Jose, Beulah, Nowlan, Bianca, Pettit, Allison R., Salga, Marjorie, Genêt, François, Bousse-Kerdilès, Marie-Caroline Le, Banzet, Sébastien and Lévesque, Jean-Pierre (2022). Spinal cord injury reprograms muscle fibroadipogenic progenitors to form heterotopic bones within muscles. Bone Research, 10 (1) 22, 22. doi: 10.1038/s41413-022-00188-y
2022
Journal Article
Therapeutic potential of macrophage colony-stimulating factor (CSF1) in chronic liver disease
Keshvari, Sahar, Genz, Berit, Teakle, Ngari, Caruso, Melanie, Cestari, Michelle F., Patkar, Omkar L., Tse, Brian W. C., Sokolowski, Kamil A., Ebersbach, Hilmar, Jascur, Julia, MacDonald, Kelli P. A., Miller, Gregory, Ramm, Grant A., Pettit, Allison R., Clouston, Andrew D., Powell, Elizabeth E., Hume, David A. and Irvine, Katharine M. (2022). Therapeutic potential of macrophage colony-stimulating factor (CSF1) in chronic liver disease. Disease Models and Mechanisms, 15 (4) dmm049387, 1-15. doi: 10.1242/dmm.049387
2022
Conference Publication
Appearances Can Be Deceiving: Macrophage Fragmentation Confounds Ex Vivo Haematopoietic Tissue Analysis
Pettit, Allison R., Batoon, Lena, Heng, Ostyn, Hume, David, Irvine, Kate, Kaur, Simranpreet, Levesque, Jean-Pierre, Magor, Graham, Millard, Susan, Noll, Jacqueline, Perkins, Andrew, Raggatt, Liza, Sandrock, Cheyenne, Sehgal, Anuj, Sester, David, Opperman, Khatora Shanae, Summers, Kim, Wu, Andy and Zannettino, Andrew (2022). Appearances Can Be Deceiving: Macrophage Fragmentation Confounds Ex Vivo Haematopoietic Tissue Analysis. 51st Annual Scientific Meeting of the ISEH - International Society for Experimental Hematology, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 1-4 September 2022. Philadelphia, PA United States: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.exphem.2022.07.018
2021
Journal Article
Fragmentation of tissue-resident macrophages during isolation confounds analysis of single-cell preparations from mouse hematopoietic tissues
Millard, Susan M., Heng, Ostyn, Opperman, Khatora S., Sehgal, Anuj, Irvine, Katharine M., Kaur, Simranpreet, Sandrock, Cheyenne J., Wu, Andy C., Magor, Graham W., Batoon, Lena, Perkins, Andrew C., Noll, Jacqueline E., Zannettino, Andrew C.W., Sester, David P., Levesque, Jean-Pierre, Hume, David A., Raggatt, Liza J., Summers, Kim M. and Pettit, Allison R. (2021). Fragmentation of tissue-resident macrophages during isolation confounds analysis of single-cell preparations from mouse hematopoietic tissues. Cell Reports, 37 (8) 110058, 110058. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.110058
2021
Journal Article
Macrophages form erythropoietic niches and regulate iron homeostasis to adapt erythropoiesis in response to infections and inflammation
Lévesque, Jean-Pierre, Summers, Kim M., Bisht, Kavita, Millard, Susan M., Winkler, Ingrid G. and Pettit, Allison R. (2021). Macrophages form erythropoietic niches and regulate iron homeostasis to adapt erythropoiesis in response to infections and inflammation. Experimental Hematology, 103, 1-14. doi: 10.1016/j.exphem.2021.08.011
2021
Journal Article
Osteal macrophages support osteoclast‐mediated resorption and contribute to bone pathology in a postmenopausal osteoporosis mouse model
Batoon, Lena, Millard, Susan M., Raggatt, Liza J., Wu, Andy C., Kaur, Simranpreet, Sun, Lucas W.H., Williams, Kyle, Sandrock, Cheyenne, Ng, Pei Ying, Irvine, Katharine M., Bartnikowski, Michal, Glatt, Vaida, Pavlos, Nathan J. and Pettit, Allison R. (2021). Osteal macrophages support osteoclast‐mediated resorption and contribute to bone pathology in a postmenopausal osteoporosis mouse model. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, 36 (11), 2214-2228. doi: 10.1002/jbmr.4413
2021
Journal Article
Role of macrophages and phagocytes in orchestrating normal and pathologic hematopoietic niches
Lévesque, Jean-Pierre, Summers, Kim M., Millard, Susan, Bisht, Kavita, Winkler, Ingrid G. and Pettit, Allison R. (2021). Role of macrophages and phagocytes in orchestrating normal and pathologic hematopoietic niches. Experimental Hematology, 100, 12-31. doi: 10.1016/j.exphem.2021.07.001
2021
Journal Article
Treatment with a long-acting chimeric CSF1 molecule enhances fracture healing of healthy and osteoporotic bones
Batoon, Lena, Millard, Susan M., Raggatt, Liza J., Sandrock, Cheyenne, Pickering, Edmund, Williams, Kyle, Sun, Lucas W.H., Wu, Andy C., Irvine, Katharine M., Pivonka, Peter, Glatt, Vaida, Wullschleger, Martin E., Hume, David A. and Pettit, Allison R. (2021). Treatment with a long-acting chimeric CSF1 molecule enhances fracture healing of healthy and osteoporotic bones. Biomaterials, 275 120936, 120936. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2021.120936
2021
Journal Article
CSF1R-dependent macrophages control postnatal somatic growth and organ maturation
Keshvari, Sahar, Caruso, Melanie, Teakle, Ngari, Batoon, Lena, Sehgal, Anuj, Patkar, Omkar L., Ferrari-Cestari, Michelle, Snell, Cameron E., Chen, Chen, Stevenson, Alex, Davis, Felicity M., Bush, Stephen J., Pridans, Clare, Summers, Kim M., Pettit, Allison R., Irvine, Katharine M. and Hume, David A. (2021). CSF1R-dependent macrophages control postnatal somatic growth and organ maturation. PLoS Genetics, 17 (6) e1009605, e1009605. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1009605
2021
Journal Article
Healing of sub-critical femoral osteotomies in mice is unaffected by tacrolimus and deletion of recombination activating gene 1
Liu, T-Y, Bartnikowski, M., Wu, A. C., Veitch, M., Sokolowski, K. A., Millard, S. M., Pettit, A. R., Glatt, V., Evans, C. H. and Wells, J. W. (2021). Healing of sub-critical femoral osteotomies in mice is unaffected by tacrolimus and deletion of recombination activating gene 1. European Cells and Materials, 41, 345-354. doi: 10.22203/eCM.v041a22
2021
Journal Article
Vincristine-induced peripheral neuropathy is driven by canonical NLRP3 activation and IL-1β release
Starobova, Hana, Monteleone, Mercedes, Adolphe, Christelle, Batoon, Lena, Sandrock, Cheyenne J., Tay, Bryan, Deuis, Jennifer R., Smith, Alexandra V., Mueller, Alexander, Nadar, Evelyn Israel, Lawrence, Grace Pamo, Mayor, Amanda, Tolson, Elissa, Levesque, Jean-Pierre, Pettit, Allison R., Wainwright, Brandon J., Schroder, Kate and Vetter, Irina (2021). Vincristine-induced peripheral neuropathy is driven by canonical NLRP3 activation and IL-1β release. Journal of Experimental Medicine, 218 (5) e20201452. doi: 10.1084/jem.20201452
Funding
Current funding
Supervision
Availability
- Professor Allison Pettit is:
- Available for supervision
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Available projects
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Deconvoluting Tissue Resident Macrophage Biology
Project only open to Australian Domestic Applicants at this time with competitive stipend on offer.
Analysis of single cell preparations from tissues is a mainstay of biological discovery research. Particularly in the current era of costly investment in increasingly high dimensional analysis of single cell samples toward generation of publicly available data sets. The team exposed an unrecognised technical phenomenon that has high potential to substantively compromise single cell data accuracy across a broad range of research fields including immunology and haematology. Specifically, tissue resident macrophages are fragmented during haematopoietic single cell suspension preparation and leave behind encapsulated remnants containing membrane and cytoplasmic molecules attached to other cells they were interacting with in situ. This phenomenon profoundly compromises accurate analysis of the data generated. Using this unique perspective, the project aims to 1) expose how widespread this phenomenon is in a diverse range of tissues across age; 2) develop optimised approaches to eliminate macrophage fragmentation during haematopoietic tissue single cell preparation; and 3) take advantage of this technical phenomenon to achieve a substantive knowledge gain in understanding bone marrow macrophage specialisation.
The outcome of this research is a broad spectrum increase in the fidelity of biology research that utilises this common approach. This will elevate translatability of research outcomes and ultimately public confidence in the Australian biology research sector. It will create opportunity to collaborate with industry toward improved development of relevant reagents and instrument technology and inform development of digital tools to deconvolute this phenomenon when analysing big data sets.
Supervision history
Current supervision
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Doctor Philosophy
Deconvoluting Tissue Resident Macrophage Biology
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Katharine Irvine, Dr Susan Millard
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Doctor Philosophy
Characterisation of sulfate deficiency on preterm neonatal bone growth and development.
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Yvonne Eiby, Dr Susan Millard, Dr Paul Dawson
Completed supervision
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2021
Doctor Philosophy
Osteal macrophages as therapeutic targets for fracture repair
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Susan Millard
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2018
Doctor Philosophy
The role of macrophages in facilitating haematopoietic stem cell engraftment and reconstitution
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Jean-Pierre Levesque
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2023
Doctor Philosophy
Deciphering the Influence of Macrophages on Endothelial Progenitors
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Simranpreet Kaur, Professor Antje Blumenthal, Professor Kiarash Khosrotehrani
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2020
Doctor Philosophy
Safer conditioning for antigen-encoding bone marrow transfer to induce immune tolerance
Associate Advisor
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2019
Doctor Philosophy
Biomimetic Multilayered Nano-Fibrous Scaffolds for Guided Bone Regeneration
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Justin Cooper-White
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2016
Doctor Philosophy
Determining the mechanisms underlying multicentric carpotarsal osteolysis and osteogenesis imperfecta type V
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Emma Duncan
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2015
Doctor Philosophy
Inflammation-driven bone formation in ankylosing spondylitis: Characterisation of the proteoglycan-induced spondylitis mouse model
Associate Advisor
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2009
Doctor Philosophy
Role of macrophages, residing on the bone surface, in bone remodelling and repair
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor David Hume
Media
Enquiries
Contact Professor Allison Pettit directly for media enquiries about:
- Bone Marrow Transplantation
- Osteoporosis Fragility Fracture
- Tissue regeneration
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