Jean-pierre Levesque PhD

Prof Jean-Pierre Levesque is a NHMRC Senior Research Fellow. He is co-head the Blood and Bone Diseases Program and head of the Stem Cell Biology Group at Mater Research Institute- University of Queensland. His major research interest is to understand how the bone marrow microenvironment regulates the fate of haematopoietic and leukaemia stem cells. His is also interested in the cross-regulations between the haematopoietic, immune, bone and nervous systems. His major contributions include the discovery of many of the mechanisms responsible for the mobilisation of haematopoietic stem cells into the blood. He was the first to identify the role of hypoxia, macrophages and endothelial selectins as critical regulators of haematopoietic stem cells in their bone marrow niches. His interest in the abnormal differentiation of adult somatic stem cells has led him to investigate the mechanisms of heterotopic ossification following spinal cord injuries. His group has created the first mouse model of this frequent complication of spinal cord injuries.