Alison Carlisle

Alison Carlisle is a PhD Student & Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI), The University of Queensland. Her research focuses on neurodegenerative diseases, neurogenesis, and evolutionary developmental biology. She has contributed to studies on microglia proteomics, exercise-induced neuroplasticity in aging models, and comparative brain evolution using marsupials.

Education:
PhD Candidate (Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland) - Thesis: Investigating the roles of microglia during development and in neurodegenerative disease (2025).

Research Interests: Microglia biology, neurodegenerative mechanisms, neurogenesis in aging, and evolutionary constraints on brain structure. Her work combines molecular biology techniques with comparative anatomy to explore brain function across species and lifespan stages.

Key Findings: Her 2021 studies demonstrated how exercise can enhance cognitive function through growth hormone-driven neurogenesis, while her 2017 work provided insights into brain evolution by analyzing marsupial developmental patterns.

Labs/Teams: Active in QBI labs specializing in neurodegeneration and developmental neuroscience. Collaborates with interdisciplinary teams including molecular biologists, neuroendocrinologists, and evolutionary biologists.