Dr Debbie Watson

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

dwatson@uow.edu.au

Centre for Medical Bioscience

Research Interests

General Research Interests;

Immunology, Genetics, Transplantation, Infectious Disease, DNA Vaccination

Specific Research Interests;

*Targeting the human immune response to bacterial toxins.

*Developing tolerance strategies for transplantation by targeting dividing alloreactive T cells.

*Developing a zebrafish model for genetic and immunological studies.

Representative Publications

Publications (last 5 years)

Debbie Watson, Min Hu, Geoff Y Zhang, Yuan Min Wang, and Stephen I Alexander. Tolerance induction by removal of alloreactive T cells: in vivo and pruning strategies. Current Opinion in Organ Transplantation, 14: 357-363, 2009.

Debbie Watson, Guoping Zhang, Huiling Wu, Yuan Min Wang, Yiping Wang, David CH Harris, and Stephen I. Alexander. CCL2 DNA Vaccine to Treat Renal Disease. International Journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, 41 (4): 729-32, 2009.

Min Hu, Debbie Watson, Geoff Y.Zhang, Nicole Graf, Yuan M. Wang, Mary Sartor, Brian Howden, Jeffery Fletcher, and Stephen I. Alexander. Long-term Cardiac Allograft Survival across an MHC mismatch after “Pruning” of Alloreactive CD4 T cells. Journal of Immunology, 2008 May 15 180 (10): 6593-603.

Ganesan PL, Alexander SI, Watson D, Logan GJ, Zhang GY, and Alexander IE. Robust anti-tumor immunity and memory in Rag-1 deficient mice following adoptive transfer of cytokine-primed splenocytes and tumor CD80 expression. Cancer Immunol Immunother. 2007 Dec;56(12):1955-65

Wang YM, Zhang GY, Wang Y, Hu M, Wu H, Watson D, Hori S, Alexander IE, Harris DC, Alexander SI. Foxp3-transduced polyclonal regulatory T cells protect against chronic renal injury from adriamycin. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2006 Mar;17(3):697-706.

Zheng G, Wang Y, Xiang SH, Tay YC, Wu H, Watson D, Coombes J, Rangan GK, Alexander SI, Harris DC. DNA vaccination with CCL2 DNA modified by the addition of an adjuvant epitope protects against "nonimmune" toxic renal injury. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2006 Feb;17(2):465-74.

Samantha L Ginn, Julie Curtin, Belinda Kramer, Christine Smyth, Melanie Wong , Alyson Kakakios, Geoffrey McCowage, Debbie Watson, Stephen I Alexander, Margot Latham, Sharon Cunningham, Maolin Zheng, Linda Hobson, Peter B Rowe, Alain Fischer, Marina Cavazzana-Calvo, Salima Hacein-Bey-Abina and Ian E Alexander. Treatment of an infant with X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID-X1) by gene therapy in Australia. Med J Aust. 2005 May 2;182(9):458-63.

Watson D, Zhang GY, Sartor M, Alexander SI. "Pruning" of alloreactive CD4+ T cells using 5- (and 6-)carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester prolongs skin allograft survival. Journal of Immunology, 2004 Dec 1;173(11):6574-82.

Hu M, Zhang GY, Walters G, Sartor M, Watson D, Knight JF, Alexander SI. Matching T-cell receptors identified in renal biopsies and urine at the time of acute rejection in pediatric renal transplant patients. American Journal of Transplantation. 2004 Nov;4(11):1859-68.

Presentations/Abstracts (Last 5 Years)

International Conferences

Prior Sensitisation Limits Long Term Allograft Survival across a Major MHC Mismatch After “Pruning” Alloreactive T cells. ePoster. XXII International Congress of The Transplantation Society, Sydney, 2008.

FoxP3 Transduced CD4 T cells exert dominant tolerance in a major mismatch skin transplant model. Oral Presentation. World Transplant Congress, Boston, July 2006.

TGFβ is crucial for prolonged survival of allografts in the alloreactive CD4 T cell “pruning” skin transplant model. Poster. American Transplant Congress, Seattle, 2005.

National Conferences

FoxP3 Transduced CD4 T cells exert dominant tolerance in a major mismatch skin transplant model. Oral Presentation. Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ), Canberra, March 2006.

Transfer of FoxP3 Transduced CD4+ T Cells Delays Chronic Rejection of Allografts in a Skin Transplant Model. Oral Presentation. Australasian Society for Immunology (ASI), Melbourne, December 2005.

TGFβ is crucial for prolonged survival of allografts in the alloreactive CD4 T cell “pruning” skin transplant model. Oral Presentation. TSANZ, Canberra, May 2005.

The role of TGFβ in an allogeneic skin transplant model. Poster. ASI, Adelaide, 2004

Student Conferences

The role of TGFβ in an Allogeneic Skin Transplant Model. Oral Presentation. CHS Research Conference, University of Sydney, Leura, September, 2004.

The role of TGFβ in a mouse model of skin allograft survival. Oral Presentation. Postgraduate Student Day, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Sydney, 2004

Current Students

No current students

Future Topics for Students

*Development of DC targeted DNA vaccines for investigating the human immune response to bacterial toxins.

*Targeting dividing alloreactive T cells using methotrexate in a mouse transplant model.

*Examining the affects of pesticide exposure on embryo development and breeding of native fish and other aquatic species.

Abbreviated CV

EDUCATION

Doctor of Philosophy, 2002-2005

Faculty of Medicine

University of Sydney, NSW, Australia

PhD Title: Novel Mechanisms of Tolerance Induction In The Mouse

Supervisor: Dr Stephen Alexander

Bachelor of Science (Honours Degree), 1998

First Class Honours, Major: Molecular Biology/Genetics

School of Biological Sciences

Macquarie University, NSW, Australia

Project 1:X-inactivation in Marsupials

Supervisor: Dr Peter Johnston

Project 2: Integrons: Bacterial Resistance to Antibiotics

Supervisor: Professor Hatch Stokes

Bachelor of Science, 1992-1997

School of Biological Sciences

Macquarie University, NSW, Australia

PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES

Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ), 2001-2009

Australasian Society for Immunology (ASI), 2004-2006, 2009

FELLOWSHIPS/SCHOLARSHIPS

2009-2012 National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Australian Research Training Fellowship, University of Wollongong

2002-2005 NHMRC Dora Lush (Biomedical) Postgraduate Scholarship, University of Sydney

1996-1997 Summer Vacation Scholarship, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Human Genetics Laboratory, Canberra

1993-1994 CSIRO Traineeship, Department of Biomolecular Engineering, CSIRO, North Ryde

AWARDS

2008 Young Investigator Award, Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ), International Congress, Sydney

2006 Novartis Travel Award, TSANZ, to travel to the World Transplant Congress (WTC), Boston

2005 Novartis Young Investigator Award, TSANZ, Canberra

2005 Novartis Travel Award, TSANZ, to travel to the American Transplant Congress (ATC), Seattle

2003 Poster Prize, FASEB Summer Conference, Vermont

2002 President’s Prize, TSANZ, Canberra

2002 Young Investigator Award, TSANZ, Canberra

2002 Young Investigator Award, Annual Hospital Meeting, Children’s Hospital at Westmead

1993/1994 CSIRO Traineeship Certificate, CSIRO, North Ryde

1989 Chris Barkway Memorial Prize for Science, Ulladulla High School

Last reviewed: 21 July, 2009