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Professor Jonathan Pettitt

Professor Jonathan Pettitt
Professor Jonathan Pettitt
Professor Jonathan Pettitt

BSc (Hons) (1988; Imperial College, London) PhD (1992; University of Cambridge)

Personal Chair

About
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

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

View Research Area

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

Page 3 of 5 Results 21 to 30 of 47

  • Operons Are a Conserved Feature of Nematode Genomes

    Pettitt, J., Philippe, L., Sarkar, D., Johnston, C., Gothe, H., Massie, D., Connolly, B., Müller, B.
    Genetics
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • β-Catenin: A Key Player in Both Cell Adhesion and Wnt Signaling

    Pettitt, J.
    Wnt Signaling in Development and Disease: Molecular Mechanisms and Biological Functions. Hoppler, S., Moon, R. T. (eds.). Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 217-224, 8 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • Specific conserved C-terminal amino acids of Caenorhabditis elegans HMP-1/α-catenin modulate F-actin binding independently of vinculin

    Maiden, S. L., Harrison, N., Keegan, J., Cain, B., Lynch, A. M., Pettitt, J., Hardin, J.
    The Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 288, no. 8, pp. 5694-5706
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Cadherins and their partners in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans

    Hardin, J., Lynch, A., Loveless, T., Pettitt, J.
    The Molecular biology of Cadherins. van Roy, F. (ed.). Elsevier Science, pp. 239-262, 24 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • A genome-wide functional screen shows MAGI-1 is an L1CAM-dependent stabilizer of apical junctions in C. elegans

    Lynch, A., Grana, T., Cox, E., Couthier, A., Cameron, M., Chin-Sang, I., Pettitt, J., Hardin, J.
    Current Biology, vol. 22, no. 20, pp. 1891–1899
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • SL2-like spliced leader RNAs in the basal nematode Prionchulus punctatus: new insight into the evolution of nematode SL2 RNAs

    Harrison, N., Kalbfleisch, A., Connolly, B., Pettitt, J., Muller, B.
    RNA , vol. 16, no. 8, pp. 1500-1507
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • SL2-like spliced leader RNAs in the basal nematode Prionchulus punctatus: new insight into the evolution of nematode SL2 RNAs

    Harrison, N., Kalbfleisch, A., Connolly, B., Pettitt, J., Müller, B.
    RNA
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • The evolution of spliced leader trans-splicing in nematodes

    Pettitt, J., Harrison, N., Stansfield, I., Connolly, B., Müller, B.
    Biochemical Society Transactions, vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 1125-1130
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • The evolution of spliced leader trans-splicing in nematodes

    Pettitt, J., Harrison, N., Stansfield, I., Connolly, B., Müller, B.
    Biochemical Society Transactions
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Rapid sublethal toxicity assessment using bioluminescent Caenorhabditis elegans, a novel whole-animal metabolic biosensor

    Lagido, C., McLaggan, D., Flett, A., Pettitt, J., Glover, L. A.
    Toxicological Sciences, vol. 109, no. 1, pp. 88-95
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
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