Alison Kay Heather is an Australian synthetic and molecular biologist at the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate u ...

and founder of Insitugen.

Academic career

After obtaining her

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

in 1996 from the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

for a thesis entitled ''Between feast and famine: adaptation of Escherichia coli to growth on low carbohydrate concentrations'', Heather moved to the Sydney

Heart Research Institute The Heart Research Institute (HRI) is a not-for-profit research facility, originally based in Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia and currently based in Newtown, New South Wales. Established in 1989 through a joint initiative of the National ...

and

University of Technology Sydney The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Although its origins are said to trace back to the 1830s, the university was founded in its current form in 1988. As of 2021 ...

, and then to the

, rising to full professor. Heather is the Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Insitugen. Heather competes in ultra-long-distance running events and

triathlons A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the d ...

. Her area of specialisation is the effect of

sex hormones Sex hormones, also known as sex steroids, gonadocorticoids and gonadal steroids, are steroid hormones that interact with vertebrate steroid hormone receptors. The sex hormones include the androgens, estrogens, and progestogens. Their effects are ...

on non-reproductive tissues, which includes use of sex hormones and related substances in sports doping. Heather's company ''Insitugen'' provides rapid hormone screening in the sporting, veterinary, and environmental fields.

Selected works

* Liu, Peter Y., Alison K. Death, and David J. Handelsman. "Androgens and cardiovascular disease." Endocrine reviews 24, no. 3 (2003): 313–340. * Death, Alison K., Elizabeth J. Fisher, Kristine CY McGrath, and Dennis K. Yue. "High glucose alters matrix metalloproteinase expression in two key vascular cells: potential impact on atherosclerosis in diabetes." Atherosclerosis 168, no. 2 (2003): 263–269. * Fryirs, Michelle A., Philip J. Barter, Mathiyalagan Appavoo, Bernard E. Tuch, Fatiha Tabet, Alison K. Heather, and Kerry-Anne Rye. "Effects of high-density lipoproteins on pancreatic β-cell insulin secretion." Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology 30, no. 8 (2010): 1642–1648. * McCrohon, Jane A., Alison K. Death, Shirley Nakhla, Wendy Jessup, David J. Handelsman, Keith K. Stanley, and David S. Celermajer. "Androgen receptor expression is greater in macrophages from male than from female donors: a sex difference with implications for atherogenesis." Circulation 101, no. 3 (2000): 224–226. * Mclennan, Susan V., Elizabeth Fisher, Sally Y. Martell, Alison K. Death, Paul F. Williams, J. Guy Lyons, and Dennis K. Yue. "Effects of glucose on matrix metalloproteinase and plasmin activities in mesangial cells: possible role in diabetic nephropathy." Kidney International 58 (2000): S81-S87.

References

External links

* * Living people New Zealand women academics Academic staff of the University of Technology Sydney University of Sydney alumni Academic staff of the University of Otago New Zealand physiologists Year of birth missing (living people) New Zealand women writers {{NewZealand-academic-bio-stub