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Researcher biography

Emily is currently a post-doctoral researcher in the Vukovic laboratory for Neuroimmunology and Cognition where she investigates the functional consequences of neuro-immune interactions and their impact on traumatic brain injury outcomes. Specifically, she investigates microglia, the CNS resident innate immune cells, and their role in mediating learning and memory deficits arising from brain injury. Dr Willis completed her PhD in neuroimmunology at The University of Queensland in October 2020. During this time, she identified that microglia do not actively drive secondary inflammatory pathology after brain injury, but rejuvenating microglia can induce microglia to become neuro-protective, driving brain repair and restoring cognition after brain injury. She identified that these rejuvenated microglia act via the interleukin-6 signalling pathway and identify this pathway as a potential target for therapeutic intervention. Her work demonstrates that microglia and their suggested roles in propagating brain injury have been previously misunderstood, and approaches to harness and modulate microglia are possible and this can support brain repair and restore brain function after injury. Her work was published in the leading life sciences journal Cell in 2020 (IF: 41.58, citations to date: 150). Her research has received several awards, including the Mark Rowe award and the Paxinos-Watson award, both from the Australian Neuroscience Society (ANS) in 2021, as well as the Postdoctoral Investigator Award from the National Association of Research Fellows (NARF) of the NHMRC in 2020.

Journal Articles

Selective ablation of BDNF from microglia reveals novel roles in self-renewal and hippocampal neurogenesis
Harley, Samuel B. R., Willis, Emily F., Shaikh, Samreen N., Blackmore, Daniel G., Sah, Pankaj, Ruitenberg, Marc J., Bartlett, Perry F. and Vukovic, Jana (2021). Selective ablation of BDNF from microglia reveals novel roles in self-renewal and hippocampal neurogenesis. The Journal of Neuroscience, 41 (19), 4172-4186. doi: 10.1523/jneurosci.2539-20.2021

Protocol for brain-wide or region-specific microglia depletion and repopulation in adult mice
Willis, Emily F. and Vukovic, Jana (2020). Protocol for brain-wide or region-specific microglia depletion and repopulation in adult mice. STAR protocols, 1 (3) 100211, 100211. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2020.100211

Repopulating Microglia Promote Brain Repair in an IL-6-Dependent Manner
Willis, Emily F., MacDonald, Kelli P. A., Nguyen, Quan H., Garrido, Adahir Labrador, Gillespie, Ellen R., Harley, Samuel B. R., Bartlett, Perry F., Schroder, Wayne A., Yates, Abi G., Anthony, Daniel C., Rose-John, Stefan, Ruitenberg, Marc J. and Vukovic, Jana (2020). Repopulating Microglia Promote Brain Repair in an IL-6-Dependent Manner. Cell, 180 (5), 833-846.e16. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.02.013

Complement components are upregulated and correlate with disease progression in the TDP-43 mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Lee, John D., Levin, Samantha C., Willis, Emily F., Li, Rui, Woodruff, Trent M. and Noakes, Peter G. (2018). Complement components are upregulated and correlate with disease progression in the TDP-43 mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Journal of Neuroinflammation, 15 (1) 171, 171. doi: 10.1186/s12974-018-1217-2

Defects in synaptic transmission at the neuromuscular junction precedes motor deficits in a TDP-43Q331K transgenic mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Chand, Kirat K., Lee, Kah Meng, Lee, John D., Qiu, Hao, Willis, Emily F., Lavidis, Nickolas A., Hilliard, Massimo A. and Noakes, Peter G. (2018). Defects in synaptic transmission at the neuromuscular junction precedes motor deficits in a TDP-43Q331K transgenic mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. FASEB Journal : Official Publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, 32 (5), fj201700835R-2689. doi: 10.1096/fj.201700835R

Somatic Arc protein expression in hippocampal granule cells is increased in response to environmental change but independent of task-specific learning
Cleland, J. P., Willis, E. F., Bartlett, P. F. and Vukovic, J. (2017). Somatic Arc protein expression in hippocampal granule cells is increased in response to environmental change but independent of task-specific learning. Scientific Reports, 7 (1) 12477, 12477. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-12583-1

Protocol for Short- and Longer-term Spatial Learning and Memory in Mice
Willis, Emily F., Bartlett, Perry F. and Vukovic, Jana (2017). Protocol for Short- and Longer-term Spatial Learning and Memory in Mice. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 11 197, 1-8. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2017.00197

Thesis

Role of microglia in traumatic brain injury
Willis, Emily (2020). Role of microglia in traumatic brain injury. PhD Thesis, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/906b939