Professor Janet Davies
National Allergy Centre of Excellence Repository & Discovery Hub Lead, Respiratory Allergy Stream Co-chair
- Head, Allergy Research Group, Queensland University of Technology
As NACE Repository & Discovery Hub Lead, Professor Janet Davies will oversee the design of a National Allergy Repository to harness the power of big data analysis to drive individualised healthcare. In her role as Respiratory Allergy Stream co-Chair, she is also helping to identify the priorities of Australians living with allergic rhinitis and allergic asthma and support the work of the NACE in synthesising and harmonising respiratory allergy research across Australia.
Prof Davies leads the QUT Allergy Research Group and is Associate Dean of Research for the QUT Faculty of Health. As the Assistant Director of Research for Australia's largest hospital network, Metro North Health (2015-2021), she developed research strategy, policy and chaired the clinical research education program. As Director of the QoVAX Program her team developed and implemented a digitally-integrated biobank and linked data repository within the public health system with an eRecruitment platform for a series of COVID-19 vaccination studies with over 10,000 participants tracking responses and health outcomes.
The underlying theme of Prof Davies’ research is antigen-antibody interactions. Her work primarily focuses on applied allergy research to improve diagnosis, treatment and understanding of the immunological mechanism underlying allergic respiratory diseases. This extends to leading the multidisciplinary AusPollen aerobiology partnership (2016-2020) that is establishing the standardised national pollen monitoring network and three associated ARC Discovery Projects.
Prof Davies is an inventor on a patent granted in Australia and USA that underpin development towards more specific immunodiagnosis and treatment for subtropical grass pollen allergy. The NHMRC, ARC, the National Foundation For Medical Research Innovation, and The Allergy and Immunology Foundation of Australasia, support her recent research.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Nanofluidic point-of-care IgE test for subtropical grass pollen for rapid diagnosis of allergic rhinitis. Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Apr 2024
Environmental DNA analysis of airborne poaceae (grass) pollen reveals taxonomic diversity across seasons and climate zones. Environmental Research, Feb 2024
Nanofluidic point-of-care IgE test for subtropical grass pollen for rapid diagnosis of allergic rhinitis. Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Nov 2023
Airborne grass pollen and thunderstorms influence emergency department asthma presentations in a subtropical climate. Environmental Research. July 2023
Does pollen exposure influence innate immunity to SARS-CoV-2 in allergy or asthma? The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. May 2023
The AusPollen partnership project: Allergenic airborne grass pollen seasonality and magnitude across temperate and subtropical eastern Australia, 2016-2020. Environmental Research. Nov 2022
Compound impacts of climate change, urbanization and biodiversity loss on allergic disease. International Journal of Epidemiology. Oct 2022
Satellite-observed shifts in C3/C4 abundance in Australian grasslands are associated with rainfall patterns. Remote Sensing of Environment. May 2022
Thunderstorm Asthma in Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis: The TAISAR study. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. May 2022
Analysis of quality control outcomes of grass pollen identification and enumeration: experience matters. Aerobiologia. Dec 2021
Characteristics of emergency patients admitted to hospital with asthma: a population-based cohort study in Queensland, Australia. Emergency Medicine Australasia. May 2021
Tracking Seasonal Changes in Diversity of Pollen Allergen Exposure: Targeted Metabarcoding of a Subtropical Aerobiome. Science of the Total Environment. Dec 2020
Biogeographical variation in specific IgE recognition of temperate and subtropical grass pollen allergens in allergic rhinitis patients. Clinical and Translational Immunology. Feb 2020
SELECTED STUDIES
- Development of an in vitro immunodiagnostic test for serum IgE specific to the major pollen allergen, Pas n 1, of the subtropical Bahia grass
- Grass Gazers: Citizen Science Project
- Point of care diagnosis for hay fever and asthma; development and validation of rapid subtropical specific IgE tests
- Cause and Effect: New Mechanisms of Particles Formation in Thunderstorms
KEY RESOURCES
Proudly in partnership with the National Allergy Council and allergy organisations
