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Contact Details

Phone
+64 3 479 7399
Email
alison.heather@otago.ac.nz
Position
Professor
Department
Department of Physiology
Qualifications
BSc(Hons) PhD
Research summary
Atherosclerosis

Research

My research focuses on how the sex hormones, estrogen and testosterone, affect non-reproductive tissues in the body. My primary research investigates how these sex hormones promote calcification of atherosclerotic plaques. Atherosclerosis is the major cardiovascular disease and calcification of plaques leads to more ruptures causing heart attacks and strokes. The work performed in my laboratory is aimed at improving the understanding and safety of hormone replacement treatment use.

My research team also develops bioassays for the detection of designer androgens and estrogens that are used as doping agents in sports.

Publications

Manodara, G., Gillon, A., Sutherland, E. S., Stevens, K. L., Deans, C. M., Kauff, A., & Heather, A. K. (2026). Functional estrogenic activity in rivers, water supply, and rainwater. iScience, 29(7), 116372. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2026.116372 Journal - Research Article

Sutherland, E. S., Manodara, G., Gillon, A., Stevens, K. L., Kauff, A., & Heather, A. K. (2026). Estrogenic activity in tampon products. Journal of the Endocrine Society, 10, bvag094. doi: 10.1210/jendso/bvag094 Journal - Research Article

Pandher, R., Chang, R., Chang, Y., Hibbs, D. E., Du, J. J., McGrath, K., Heather, A., … Handelsman, D. J. (2024). Molecular mechanism of androgen receptor mutation in multigenerational mild androgen insensitivity syndrome. Endocrine Connections, 14, e240567. doi: 10.1530/ec-24-0567 Journal - Research Article

Clarkson, J., Yip, S. H., Porteous, R., Kauff, A., Heather, A. K., & Herbison, A. E. (2023). CRISPR-Cas9 knockdown of ESR1 in preoptic GABA-kisspeptin neurons suppresses the preovulatory surge and estrous cycles in female mice. eLIFE, 12, RP90959. doi: 10.7554/eLife.90959 Journal - Research Article

McQuillan, H. J., Clarkson, J., Kauff, A., Han, S. Y., Yip, S. H., Cheong, I., Porteous, R., Heather, A. K., & Herbison, A. E. (2022). Definition of the estrogen negative feedback pathway controlling the GnRH pulse generator in female mice. Nature Communications, 13, 7433. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-35243-z Journal - Research Article

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