Rate My Professor Andrew Allen

Professor Andrew Allen is an Honorary Professorial Fellow in the School of Biomedical Sciences within the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne, where he obtained his PhD. As Head of the Allen Laboratory for Central Cardiovascular Regulation, he directs research on the neural control of cardiovascular function from the central nervous system. His work centers on elucidating interactions among neuronal groups that govern breathing, blood pressure, and heart rate, with particular emphasis on disruptions in these circuits during cardiovascular pathologies.

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.