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Contact Details

Phone
+64 3 479 4960
Email
louise.parr-brownlie@otago.ac.nz
Position
Professor
Department
Department of Anatomy
Iwi affiliations

Dr Parr-Brownlie is Ngāti Maniapoto and Te Arawa.

Qualifications
BPhEd MSc PhD(Otago)
Research summary
Brain changes associated with Parkinson's disease and chronic pain
Teaching

Current:

  • ANAT335 Neurobiology
  • NEUR452 Neurodegenerative disorders

Previous:

  • HUBS191 (musculoskeletal)
  • ANAT241 (musculoskeletal)
  • ELM2 (musculoskeletal)
Memberships
  • Director Māori, Ageing Well National Science Challenge
  • Māori Advisory Board for Brain Research New Zealand – Roro Rangahau Aotearoa Centre of Research Excellence
  • Secretary of the International Basal Ganglia Society Council

Research

Professor Parr-Brownlie has internationally recognised expertise in understanding how activity in the motor thalamus, motor cortex and basal ganglia control normal movements and is altered in Parkinson's disease. Her team use a combination of optogenetic stimulation, electrophysiological recordings, electron and confocal microscopy to investigate brain function and structure. They have applied optogenetic stimulation to determine if there are better places and ways to stimulate the brain to improve movements in models of Parkinson's disease.

She has been an invited speaker at prestigious conferences in the United States, such as Howard Hughes Medical Institute (Janelia) and Gordon Research Conferences. Professor Parr-Brownlie has extended her research programme to (1) examine anatomical and physiological changes in the brain associated with chronic pain and (2) investigate Māori community perspectives of neurosurgical approaches to treat neurological disorders and traumatic brain injury.

Current staff in the laboratory are Dr Elodie Kip (ARF), Conor Underwood (PRF) and Mariana Te Pou (ARF). Current postgraduate students are Alexander Woolrych (PhD) and Lily Bentall (Hons).

Parr-Brownlie lab team photo

Additional details

Lab staff alumni are:

  • Dr Clementine Bosch-Bouju, postdoctoral fellow
  • Dr Lisa Smith, postdoctoral fellow
  • Dr Rachel Sizemore, postdoctoral fellow
  • Dr Sonja Seeger-Armbruster, postdoctoral fellow
  • Julia Prier, ARF
  • Roseanna Smither, ARF
  • Stella Cameron, ARF
  • Niamh Cameron, ARF

Lab postgraduate alumni are:

  • Dr Sophie Barnett (PhD)
  • Dr Ashik Banstola (PhD)
  • Dr Stella Cameron (PhD)
  • Nikki Guy (MMedSc)
  • James Miller (MSc and Hons)
  • Shane Little (MSc and PGDipSc)
  • Abby Johnson (Hons)
  • Niamh Cameron (PGDipSc)

Publications

Edwards, N., Yowelunh McLester-Davis, L. W., Kline, C., Brown, A., Caron, N. R., & Parr-Brownlie, L. C. (2025). Towards the implementation of Indigenous data governance in neurogenomics research. Nature Neuroscience. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1038/s41593-025-02070-6 Journal - Research Other

Bentall, L. M., & Parr-Brownlie, L. (2025). EEG/LFP waveform shape asymmetry as a future biomarker for Parkinson's disease or levodopa-induced dyskinesia disease states. In A. Banstola (Ed.), Proceedings of the 41st International Australasian Winter Conference on Brain Research (AWCBR). 9.3, (pp. 52). Retrieved from https://www.awcbr.org Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Parr-Brownlie, L. C., & Dean, J. M. (2025). Horizon Europe: Brain health partnership in New Zealand. In A. Banstola (Ed.), Proceedings of the 41st International Australasian Winter Conference on Brain Research (AWCBR). 7.1, (pp. 48). Retrieved from https://www.awcbr.org Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Bentall, L. M., & Parr-Brownlie, L. C. (2025). Sexual dimorphism in levodopa-induced dyskinesia following parkinson's disease: Uncharted territory. European Journal of Neuroscience, 61, e70144. doi: 10.1111/ejn.70144 Journal - Research Other

Kendall, G. E., Underwood, C. F., & Parr-Brownlie, L. C. (2025). A novel rat model for inflammatory gut–brain interactions in Parkinson's disease. European Journal of Neuroscience, 61, e16667. doi: 10.1111/ejn.16667 Journal - Research Article

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