Rate My Professor Nicola Collie

Nicola Collie serves as an Assistant Research Fellow at the University of Otago, contributing to neuroscience research in the Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology, School of Medical Sciences, as well as collaborations with the School of Pharmacy and Brain Health Research Centre. Her academic background includes a Master of Science in biochemistry from the University of Otago, completed around 1997, following which she joined the Bioethics Centre. In 2014, she authored a Master of Health Sciences thesis entitled "Disclosure or discourse? A critical examination of consent in research using surplus clinical tissue," addressing ethical issues in the use of surplus clinical samples for research.

Collie's research focuses on arginine metabolism and its downstream metabolites in the brain, examining their roles in memory, learning, behavioral function, and neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease. Key publications include "Spatial learning results in elevated agmatine levels in the rat brain" (Synapse, 2008), which showed elevated agmatine in brain regions after spatial learning; "Memory-related changes in L-citrulline and agmatine in the rat brain" (Hippocampus, 2009); "Scopolamine impairs behavioural function and arginine metabolism in the rat dentate gyrus" (Neuropharmacology, 2012), detailing impacts of scopolamine on arginine pathway enzymes and metabolites; and "Altered arginine metabolism in Alzheimer's disease brains" (Neurochemistry International, 2014), reporting region-specific changes in nitric oxide synthase and arginase activities, along with concentrations of L-arginine, L-citrulline, L-ornithine, agmatine, putrescine, spermidine, spermine, glutamate, GABA, and glutamine in superior frontal gyrus, hippocampus, and cerebellum of AD cases versus controls. Other contributions encompass effects of phencyclidine withdrawal on radial-arm maze performance (Neuroscience Letters, 2017), altered neurovascular coupling and arginine metabolism in hypertensive rats (Nitric Oxide, 2019), and ghrelin preservation of ischemia-induced coronary vasodilation (Endocrinology, 2018). She was a member of the Dunedin team at Brain Research New Zealand in 2020-2021.