Rate My Professor Andrew Allen

The laboratory's investigations span alterations in sympathetic and parasympathetic outflows in hypertension and heart failure, synaptic interactions in sympathetic neural pathways, and the brain renin-angiotensin system, including angiotensin synthesis, secretion, and its roles in homeostasis and disease progression. Specific projects include examining hypothalamic modulation of basal sympathetic activity, the interplay between angiotensin and peripheral chemoreceptors, mapping the distribution of angiotensin receptors across brain regions, defining angiotensin's contributions in the rostral ventrolateral medulla, and probing the developmental and mechanistic origins of hypertension, such as excessive respiratory modulation of blood pressure. Professor Allen has advanced chemogenetic approaches to dissect neural circuit functions, as highlighted in collaborative developments with the Florey Institute. For his impactful research on hypertension mechanisms, he was awarded the 2018 Paxinos-Watson Award for the paper 'Excessive Respiratory Modulation of Blood Pressure Triggers Hypertension'. He leads a dynamic team comprising postdoctoral fellows like Mariana Melo and David Farmer, research assistants, PhD students including Bruce Ngo and Alex Wykes, master's candidates, and honours students, contributing to training in neuroscience and physiology.