BSc (Hons) (1988; Imperial College, London) PhD (1992; University of Cambridge)
Personal Chair
- About
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- Email Address
- j.pettitt@abdn.ac.uk
- Telephone Number
- +44 (0)1224 437516
- Office Address
School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition
Room 4:38, Institute of Medical Sciences- School/Department
- School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition
Biography
Jonathan Pettitt graduated from Imperial College with an upper second class degree in Biochemistry. He then carried out postgraduate research within the Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, investigating the structure and expression of collagen genes in the parasitic nematode Ascaris suum. Whilst at Cambridge he was seduced by the many charms of the non-parasitic nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, and upon completing his PhD he went to Bill Wood’s lab at the University of Colorado, Boulder as an HFSPO long term postdoctoral fellow to study C. elegans development. In 1994, he obtained a two year EMBO fellowship to continue this work in the laboratory of Ronald Plasterk at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, and learn the reverse genetics techniques pioneered there. He moved to the University of Aberdeen in 1996 where he became group leader and Lecturer in genetics within the newly built Institute of Medical Sciences.
- Research
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Research Overview
Professor Jonathan Pettitt studies the mechanistic basis of specific RNA processing events using the nematode C. elegans as a model organism (aberdeenwormlab.org/). The main focus of the lab is understanding spliced leader trans-splicing, with the long-term goal of developing drugs that target this essential nematode-specific process. Such drugs are needed to treat the myriad parasitic nematodes that threaten both human and animal health, and impact global food security. Parallel work seeks to understand cap-adjacent RNA methylation, a modification that is found in most human messenger RNAs but whose functional significance remains unknown.
Research Areas
Biomedical Sciences
Research Specialisms
- Genetics
Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is HESA open data, published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
Funding and Grants
BBSRC (2020 - 2023). Understanding the mechanism of a nematode molecular Achilles' heel.
- Publications
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The Caenorhabditis elegans histone hairpin-binding protein is required for core histone gene expression and is essential for embryonic and postembryonic cell division
Journal of Cell Science, vol. 115, no. 4, pp. 857-866Contributions to Journals: ArticlesThe C. elegans hmr-1 gene can encode a neuronal classic cadherin involved in the regulation of axon fasciculation
Current Biology, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 59-63Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0960-9822(01)00624-8
Toxicity of the bacterial luciferase substrate, n-decyl aldehyde, to Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Caenorhabditis elegans
FEBS Letters, vol. 506, no. 2, pp. 140-142Contributions to Journals: ArticlesDevelopment and application of bioluminescent Caenorhabditis elegans as multicellular eukaryotic biosensors
FEBS Letters, vol. 493, no. 1, pp. 36-39Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0014-5793(01)02271-2
Cadherin Superfamily Proteins in Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster
Journal of Molecular Biology, vol. 305, no. 5, pp. 1011-1024Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1006/jmbi.2000.4361
The use of bioluminescent Caenorhabditis elegans as multicellular eukaryotic biosensors
European Worm Meeting (2000)Contributions to Conferences: AbstractsLuminescent Caenorhabditis elegans: a novel eukaryotic biosensor
12th International C. elegans MeetingContributions to Conferences: AbstractsDevelopment of a Caenorhabditis elegans biosensor for monitoring environmental toxicants
European Worm MeetingContributions to Conferences: Abstractscdh-3, a gene encoding a member of the cadherin superfamily, functions in epithelial cell morphogenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans
Development, vol. 122, no. 12, pp. 4149-4157Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.122.12.4149
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus