Prof Jean-Pierre Levesque, PhD is a NHMRC Research Fellow and heads the Stem Cell Laboratory at MRI-UQ. His major research interest is to understand how niches regulate stem cells in the body with a particular focus on malignant and non-malignant haematopoiesis in the bone marrow and heterotopic ossifications in muscles. His major contributions include the discovery of many of the mechanisms responsible for the mobilisation of haematopoietic stem cells into the blood. He was the first to identify the role of hypoxia, macrophages and endothelial selectins as critical regulators of haematopoietic stem cells in their bone marrow niches. His is also interested in the cross-regulations between the haematopoietic, immune, bone and nervous systems and has recently developed the first mouse model of neurological heterotopic ossification following spinal cord injury leading to fundamental discoveries on the pathobiology of this condition.