Professor Dorothy Oorschot

Professor Dorothy Oorschot's research is focused on the structure and function of the normal and hypoxic (oxygen-deprived) basal ganglia. In normal basal ganglia, she is looking at neural circuits to test hypotheses on the cellular basis of movement and learning. She is also investigating treatments to rescue striatal neurons from hypoxic-induced cell death to help prevent cerebral palsy.

Her laboratory is developing a new animal model of brain injury in infants born extremely prematurely. This is relevant to the potential development of treatments for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and for periventricular leukomalacia. Stereological (three-dimensional) ultrastructural methods and behavioural methods are being used to unravel the normal and 'diseased' structure and function of the basal ganglia and to test hypotheses about Huntington's disease.

To advance knowledge on the circuitry for non-reward or disappointment, in collaboration with Professor Louise Parr-Brownlie and Dr Rachel Sizemore, Professor Oorschot is mapping the local connectivity between specific GABAergic and dopaminergic neurons in the midbrain. A previous mapping project with Professor John Reynolds and Dr Rachel Sizemore teased out the circuitry of the striatal cholinergic interneurons to test various hypotheses about their function. Professor Oorschot is the sole senior stereologist in a collaborative Health Research Programme Grant with Professor Mike Dragunow and Professor Richard Faull of the University of Auckland. For this grant, the neurological basis of motor, mood, or mixed symptoms in Huntington's disease is being investigated.

Professor Oorschot is also a member of the Basal Ganglia Research Group. Her current research is funded by the Neurological Foundation and Lottery Health and previous research was funded by the Otago Medical Research Foundation, the Marsden Fund and the Health Research Council.

Find out more about Professor Oorschot's research