Rate My Professor Dominique Blache

University of Western Australia

#6,848 worldwide#6,736 in Australia

4.4

5 reviews · out of 5

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Ratings & reviews

4.08/20/2025

Makes learning exciting and meaningful.

4.05/21/2025

Brings enthusiasm and expertise to class.

5.03/31/2025

Always clear, concise, and insightful.

4.02/27/2025

Makes even dry topics interesting.

5.02/17/2025

Patient, kind, and always approachable.

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About Dominique

Dominique Blache is an Associate Professor in the UWA School of Agriculture and Environment at the University of Western Australia, where he has been affiliated since 1993. He earned his PhD in Neurosciences from institutions including INRA in France and the AFRC Neuroendocrine Laboratory at Babraham in the UK. His career at UWA began with a Postdoctoral Fellowship, followed by positions as Research Fellow from 1993 to 2000, Lecturer from 2000 to 2005, Senior Lecturer from 2005 to 2021, and Associate Professor since 2021. Blache also holds roles as Co-Director of the Centre for Sustainable Ruminant Systems in Yangzhou, China, since 2017, and Founding Member of the Animal Welfare Collaborative in Brisbane since 2018. Since 2000, he has directed the UWA Radioimmunoassay Laboratory. His work has been funded by major bodies including the Australian Research Council, National Health & Medical Research Council, Meat and Livestock Australia, and international agencies.

Blache's research specializes in the neurobiology of animal behaviour and welfare, with key contributions to understanding emotional reactivity, stress physiology, metabolism, and animal ethics. He developed a robust non-commercial leptin assay that has been utilized by numerous research groups worldwide, co-authoring at least 50 related publications exploring energy status effects on livestock reproduction, such as postpartum anoestrus in cattle. His pioneering studies on emotional reactivity and personality in sheep influenced subsequent programs in farm animal research. In collaboration with Professor Shane Maloney, funded by an ARC Discovery Project grant, he investigated selective brain cooling, thermoregulation, and evaporative cooling, resulting in over half a dozen publications. Recent endeavors include using Drosophila melanogaster to study circadian temperature rhythms' impacts on biological rhythms and stress responses, proposing temperature rhythms as stress indicators. He contributes to welfare research in sheep and pigs, identifying biomarkers for experiences and positive states, and explores microbiome-temperament interactions via multi-omics. Notable publications include the invited review 'New perspectives on the roles of nutrition and metabolic priorities in the subfertility of high-producing dairy cows' (Journal of Dairy Science, 2007), 'Review of sheep body condition score in relation to production characteristics' (New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 2014), 'Level of nutrition affects leptin concentrations in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid in sheep' (Journal of Endocrinology, 2000), 'Bioactive plants and plant products: Effects on animal function, health and welfare' (Animal Feed Science and Technology, 2012), and recent works like 'Proteins as indicators of stress and pain in lambs after castration' (Theriogenology, 2026). Blache supervises PhD students on topics ranging from oxidative stress and reproduction to heat stress and microbiome effects.