Jenefer Blackwell

Jenefer Blackwell is a Professor of Molecular Parasitology at the Telethon Kids Institute in the University of Western Australia. She studies host susceptibility and resistance to infectious diseases.

Jenefer Blackwell
Alma materUniversity of Western Australia
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Western Australia
University of Cambridge

Early life and education

Blackwell went to Methodist Ladies' College, Perth, in 1961.[1] She graduated with First-class honours in Zoology from the University of Western Australia in 1969, and her PhD in 1974.[2] Her dissertation, "The structure of the deme in the frog Crinia insignifera Moore," considered intra-specific divergence in the Western Australian frogs.[3][4]

Research and career

Blackwell moved to the UK in 1975 and worked at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine for 17 years. She was funded by a Wellcome Trust Senior Fellowship until 1991.[5] In 1991 Blackwell joined the University of Cambridge, where she raised money to develop the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research as a GlaxoSmithKline Professor of Molecular Parasitology.[1] She chaired the World Health Organization Leishmania Genome Consortium between 1992 and 2003.[5][6][7] Blackwell discovered that cell-mediated immunity is responsible for the genetic risk of visceral leishmaniasis that allows genome-based vaccine development.[8] She contributed to several books and review papers on genomics and leishmaniasis.[9][10][11][12][13] Her research identified that infections caused by Leishmania donovani, Leishmania major and Leishmania mexicana were determined by genes near the H-11 locus.[14]

She returned to University of Western Australia in 2007, where she established a genetics laboratory at the Telethon Kids Institute.[5][15] Here she is researching ear infection and metabolic diseases, genome-wide association studies of otitis media in Western Australian children, the use of metabolomics in emerging diseases and aboriginal genetics.[5] She identified the genetic risk factors for high BMI, rheumatic heart disease and Type 2 Diabetes amongst aboriginal communities.[16][17]

Awards and fellowships

1994 - British Society for Parasitology Chris Wright Medal[18]

2000 - Leverhulme Medal (Royal Society)[1]

2000 - Elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences[19]

2009 - Honorary Doctorate from the University of Khartoum

2015 - Elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science[8][20]

2015 - University of Western Australia Vice Chancellor's Senior Research Award[21]

References
  1. "Blackwell (Miles) - Methodist Ladies' College". Methodist Ladies' College. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  2. Elsevier. "Speakers - Meegid - Elsevier". www.elsevier.com. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  3. "Jenefer Blackwell - The Mathematics Genealogy Project". www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  4. Blackwell, Jenefer M (June 1978). "Intra-specific divergence in the Western Australian frog Ranidella insignifera". Heredity. 40 (3): 339–348. doi:10.1038/hdy.1978.41. ISSN 0018-067X.
  5. "Jenefer Blackwell - Telethon Kids Institute". www.telethonkids.org.au. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  6. Blackwell, Jenefer M. (1 March 1997). "Progress in the Leishmania genome project". Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 91 (2): 107–110. doi:10.1016/S0035-9203(97)90187-5. ISSN 0035-9203. PMID 9196742.
  7. (mw6), www-core. "Visceral Leishmaniasis - WTCCC". www.wtccc.org.uk. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  8. Institute, Telethon Kids (25 May 2015), Professor Jenefer Blackwell, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, retrieved 1 June 2018
  9. Leishmania : after the genome. Myler, Peter John., Fasel, Nicolas. Norfolk, UK: Caister Academic. 2008. ISBN 9781904455288. OCLC 171110678.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  10. Roberts, M. T. M. (10 February 2006). "Current understandings on the immunology of leishmaniasis and recent developments in prevention and treatment". British Medical Bulletin. 75–76 (1): 115–130. doi:10.1093/bmb/ldl003. ISSN 0007-1420. PMID 16847165.
  11. Hart, D. T. (27 November 2013). Leishmaniasis: The Current Status and New Strategies for Control: Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute, Zakynthos (Greece), 1987. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 9781461315759.
  12. Walliker, D.; Walliker, David; Chappell, Leslie H. (1996). Genetics of Host and Parasite: Implications for Immunity, Epidemiology and Evolution. pp. S1-4. ISBN 9780521589369. PMID 8684832. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)
  13. Wakelin, Derek (1988). Genetics of resistance to bacterial and parasitic infection. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9780850663662.
  14. Cox, F. E. G. (1989). "Cell Biology and Immunology of Leishmaniasis". Leishmaniasis. Boston, MA: Springer US. pp. 255–257. doi:10.1007/978-1-4613-1575-9_31. ISBN 9781461288626.
  15. Australian Academy of Science (27 May 2015), New Fellows 2015: Jenefer Blackwell, Telethon Kids Institute, retrieved 2 June 2018
  16. Anderson, Denise; Cordell, Heather J.; Fakiola, Michaela; Francis, Richard W.; Syn, Genevieve; Scaman, Elizabeth S. H.; Davis, Elizabeth; Miles, Simon J.; McLeay, Toby (11 March 2015). "First Genome-Wide Association Study in an Australian Aboriginal Population Provides Insights into Genetic Risk Factors for Body Mass Index and Type 2 Diabetes". PLOS ONE. 10 (3): e0119333. Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1019333A. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0119333. PMC 4356593. PMID 25760438.
  17. Gray, Lesley-Ann; D’Antoine, Heather A; Tong, Steven Y C; McKinnon, Melita; Bessarab, Dawn; Brown, Ngiare; Reményi, Bo; Steer, Andrew; Syn, Genevieve (26 September 2017). "Genome-Wide Analysis of Genetic Risk Factors for Rheumatic Heart Disease in Aboriginal Australians Provides Support for Pathogenic Molecular Mimicry". The Journal of Infectious Diseases. 216 (11): 1460–1470. doi:10.1093/infdis/jix497. ISSN 0022-1899. PMID 29029143.
  18. "C.A. Wright Memorial Medal - The British Society For Parasitology". The British Society For Parasitology. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  19. "Professor Jenefer Blackwell | The Academy of Medical Sciences". acmedsci.ac.uk. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  20. "Jennie Blackwell made a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science - Telethon Kids Institute". www.telethonkids.org.au. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  21. "The UWA Research Awards and Honours 2015". News | The University Of Western Australia. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
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