Dr Rosie Brown from the Grattan Lab has just been announced with one of the five nationwide Sir Charles Hercus Health Research Fellowships, a funding programme for early career development by the New Zealand Health Research Council. She receives $500,000 to support her project “The neurobiology of maternal care; understanding the critical role of prolactin”.
This work follows up on Rosie's previous work identifying certain brain regions in which the hormone prolactin acts as a regulator of nursing behaviour. With the current project Rosie will test whether and to what extent prolactin is acting on reward pathways in the mother's brain to shape maternal care and will monitor the activity of prolactin-responsive neurons while the mother is looking after her offspring.