Mhoyra Fraser

Senior Lecturer
Academic Director
BSc, DipSci, MPhil, PhD

Contact details

Email: m.fraser@auckland.ac.nz

Key research interests

• Preterm brain injury and developmental neuroendocrinology.

Dr Mhoyra Fraser is a neuroendocrinologist interested in fetal brain development and the HPA axis. She has contributed substantially to the understanding of fetal brain development and how this is disrupted when fetuses are deprived of oxygen or exposed to glucocorticoids.

Senior lecturer, Dept Physiology, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland

1. Collaboration with Professor John Hopkins, Department of Veterinary Pathology, University of Edinburgh. Project title: preterm brain injury and the role of intrauterine infection and cytokines.

2. Collaboration with Associate Professor T Inder (St Louis- USA) & Prof C Winterbourne (CHCH, NZ).

3. Collaboration with Prof Alistair Gunn and Prof Laura Bennet, Dept Physiology, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland

1. Fraser M, Bennet L, Winterbourn CC, Van Zijl PL, Mocatta TJ, Williams CE, Gluckman PD, Gunn AJ. Extracellular amino acids and lipid peroxidation products in periventricular white matter during and after cerebral ischemia in preterm fetal sheep. J Neurochem. 2008 Mar 18; [Epub ahead of print].

2. Fraser M, Bennet L, Helliwell R, Wells S, Williams CE, Gluckman PD, Gunn AJ, Inder T. Regional specificity of magnetic resonance imaging and histopathology following cerebral ischemia in preterm fetal sheep. Reproductive Sciences 14 (2):182-189, 2007.

3. Ikenasio-Thorpe BA, Breier BH, Vickers MH, Fraser M. Prenatal influences on susceptibility to diet-induced obesity are mediated by altered neuroendocrine gene expression. J Endocrinol. 193(1):31-7, 2007.

4. Quaedackers JS, Roelfsema V, Fraser M, Gunn AJ and Bennet L. Cardiovascular and endocrine effects of a single course of maternal dexamethasone treatment in preterm fetal sheep. Brit J Obstet Gynaec. 112(2):182-91, 2005.

5. Dean JM, Gunn AJ, Shelling AN, Bennet L, Sheikh S, Fraser M. Ontogeny of AMPA and NMDA receptor gene expression in the developing sheep white matter and cerebral cortex. Brain Res Mol Brain Res. 139(2):242-50, 2005.