Rate My Professor Rosie Brown

Associate Professor Rosie Brown is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Physiology in the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Otago, where she leads the Rosie Brown Laboratory within the Centre for Neuroendocrinology. She completed her BSc (Hons) and PhD at the University of Otago. Brown's research focuses on neuroendocrinology, specifically investigating how hormones during pregnancy and lactation, such as prolactin and progesterone, modulate neural circuitry in the maternal brain to regulate maternal behaviours that promote offspring survival and wellbeing. Her laboratory employs transgenic mouse models, viral technology for circuit manipulation, behavioral assays, molecular biology techniques to assess transcriptional changes, immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridisation to map hormone-responsive neurons, and imaging to track hormone movement into the brain. The research also explores disruptions in hormone access to the brain in physiological and pathological states, with relevance to conditions like postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, and maternal obesity.

Brown has been honored with several prestigious awards, including the Marsden Fund Fast-Start grant in 2017, the University of Otago Early Career Award for Distinction in Research in 2017, the Michael Harbuz Young Investigator Prize from the British Society of Neuroendocrinology in 2017, the Health Research Council of New Zealand Sir Charles Hercus Fellowship in 2018, and the Rutherford Discovery Fellowship in 2023. Her lab receives support from the Health Research Council, Marsden Fund, and University of Otago Research Grant. Key publications include "Prolactin-mediates a lactation-induced suppression of arcuate kisspeptin neuronal activity necessary for lactational infertility in mice" (eLife, 2025), "Prolactin modulation of thermoregulatory circuits provides resilience to thermal challenge of pregnancy" (Cell Reports, 2025), "Hormonal actions in the medial preoptic area governing parental behaviour: Novel insights from new tools" (Endocrinology, 2025), "Mechanisms of lactation-induced infertility in female mice" (Endocrinology, 2023), and "Prolactin-mediated restraint of maternal aggression in lactation" (PNAS, 2022). She contributes to teaching NEUR 303.