Anne-Maree Pearse is an Australian

cytogeneticist Cytogenetics is essentially a branch of genetics, but is also a part of cell biology/cytology (a subdivision of human anatomy), that is concerned with how the chromosomes relate to cell behaviour, particularly to their behaviour during mitosis an ...

who is credited with the theory that some cancer cells can be transmissible between individuals. This is known as the allograft theory. Her work has focussed on

devil facial tumour disease Devil facial tumour disease (DFTD) is an aggressive non-viral clonally transmissible cancer which affects Tasmanian devils, a marsupial native to the Australian island of Tasmania. The cancer manifests itself as lumps of soft and ulcerating tis ...

(DFTD), a contagious cancer that affects

Tasmanian devil The Tasmanian devil (''Sarcophilus harrisii''; palawa kani: ''purinina'') is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae. It was formerly present across mainland Australia, but became extinct there around 3,500 years ago; it is now con ...

s. For this she has won multiple awards, including the 2012 Prince Hitachi Prize for Comparative Oncology.

Education

Pearse graduated from the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

in 1972 before starting an MSc at the

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College (University of Tasmania), Christ College, one of the unive ...

in 1976. During her Masters she worked on the

flea Flea, the common name for the order (biology), order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by hematophagy, ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult f ...

, '' Uropsylla tasmanica'', which is a flea that infects

quoll Quolls (; genus ''Dasyurus'') are carnivorous marsupials native to Australia and New Guinea. They are primarily nocturnal, and spend most of the day in a den. Of the six species of quoll, four are found in Australia and two in New Guinea. Anot ...

s and Tasmanian devils. She was unable to complete her PhD due to symptoms of progressive and severe

degenerative disc disease Degenerative disc disease (DDD) is a medical condition typically brought on by the aging process in which there are anatomic changes and possibly a loss of function of one or more intervertebral discs of the vertebral column, spine. DDD can take ...

Career

Pearse worked in the Cytogenetics Laboratory at the

Royal Hobart Hospital The Royal Hobart Hospital is a public hospital in the Hobart CBD, Tasmania, Australia. The hospital also functions as a teaching hospital in co-operation with the University of Tasmania. The hospital's research facilities are known as the Roy ...

, Tasmania for seventeen years where she worked on human

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

but also continued studying quolls. During this period she published work on cancer in quolls. She initially retired from scientific work, establishing a flower farm, before returning to science to work on DFTD. She joined the Save the Tasmanian Devil program at the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, Tasmanian Government, in 2004 after hearing about the disease on the radio. alt=Large red tumours protrude from the face of a Tasmanian devil, Tumours protrude from the face of a Tasmanian devil In 2006, Pearse and her colleague Swift published a paper on their findings on DFTD in

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

''.'' In their report they studied tumours from eleven Tasmanian devils. They observed that the tumours had major chromosomal abnormalities and these abnormalities were the same between individual animals. This led them to conclude that the tumour cells in different animals were of the same clonal origin. As a result, they proposed the hypothesis that "the disease is transmitted by allograft, whereby an infectious cell line is passed directly between the animals through bites they inflict on one another.". Since then, other scientists have added further evidence to the Allograft Theory of DFTD whilst Pearse has continued to uncover new information on the disease. In particular, she has investigated how the disease mutates in Tasmanian Devil populations. The conclusion of this research is "that DFTD should not be treated as a static entity, but rather as an evolving parasite with epigenetic plasticity". These findings have implications in humans in terms of donor-derived malignancy in organ transplantation and transmission of a malignancy between a mother and a fetus or between twin fetuses.

Awards and honours

* 2011 Australian Museum Sherman Eureka Prize for Environmental Research (shared) * 2012 Prince Hitachi Prize for Comparative Oncology

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearse, Anne-Maree Living people 21st-century Australian scientists Cytogenetics Year of birth missing (living people) University of Sydney alumni University of Tasmania alumni Australian women scientists