Hannah Palliser

Dr. Hannah Palliser is a Research Fellow at the University of Newcastle's School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, specializing in fetal and neonatal neuroprotection. Her research focuses on preterm birth, intrauterine growth restriction, and the role of neurosteroids like allopregnanolone in brain development. She uses guinea pig models to study the effects of stress, progesterone, and neurosteroid therapies on neurodevelopmental outcomes.

• Education: PhD (Monash University), BSc (Biomedical) and BSc (Honours) (Monash University)

Key research interests include:

• Perinatal neuroprotection: Investigating how neurosteroids like allopregnanolone protect fetal brains from injury and promote myelination.
• Preterm birth complications: Understanding mechanisms behind neurodevelopmental deficits in preterm infants and testing therapies like ganaxolone and zuranolone.
• Prenatal stress impacts: Exploring how maternal stress alters fetal brain development and GABAergic pathways, leading to anxiety and behavioral disorders.

Her recent work highlights the role of neurosteroid analogs in restoring cerebellar and hippocampal development in preterm guinea pigs, improving behavioral outcomes. Collaborations focus on translational research to bridge animal models with clinical applications in neonatal care.

Grant-funded projects include studies on neurosteroid supplementation and the developmental origins of health and disease. She supervises research on stress, myelination, and neurobehavioral outcomes in neonatal models.

Labs/Teams: Part of the Hirst Lab and collaborations with the Dyson and Walker groups at the University of Newcastle, focusing on translational neonatal neuroscience.