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Prof Caroline McMillen

Professor Caroline McMillen is the Pro Vice Chancellor and Vice President, Research and Innovation at the University of South Australia recently appointed to this position in December 2005. Her portfolio encompasses strategic oversight of the University's research, research education and training and innovation activities.

Professor McMillen is also Director of the Research Centre for the Early Origins of Adult Health where she heads a research team of around 15 staff and students. She is currently a lead investigator on an NHMRC Program Grant on The Early Origins of Adult Disease and also recently attracted funding from the ARC for her work on the epigenetic regulation of fetal development.

During the past 5 years, Professor McMillen's research group have published a series of studies on the definition of the fetal adaptations to a restriction of placental substrate supply, to the factors which regulate the development of leptin synthesis and secretion in fetal adipose tissue, the development of the appetite regulatory system in the sheep fetus and the impact of the periconceptional nutritional environment on fetal development.

Professor McMillen has received invitations to present Plenary lectures or Symposia at 50 international and national conferences including the IUPS Congress in San Diego, the FASEB Summer Research Conference on the regulation of the Perinatal Cardiovascular System and the Second International GH/IGF Symposium. Professor McMillen was elected as a Member of the US Perinatal Research Society in 1999 and in 2002 she was honoured to be elected to serve as the Basic Science Member on the Council of this US Society. In 2002 she was invited to Chair the International Development Section of the Endocrinology, Reproduction and Development Commission for the International Union of Physiological Societies. In 1998 and 2000 the National Heart Foundation awarded her the Henry and Crissie Harden Research Grant and the Michael Auld Medical Research Grant respectively. She has served as a member or Chair of the ARC Biological Sciences Panel and the NHMRC Grant Review Panel in the area of perinatology.

Recent Publications

McMillen IC, Schwartz J, Coulter CL and Edwards LJ. The early embryonic environment, the fetal pituitary-adrenal axis and the timing of parturition. Endocrine Res 2005; 30:845-50.

Edwards LJ, McFarlane JR, Kauter KG and McMillen IC. Impact of maternal undernutrition before and during pregnancy on maternal and fetal leptin and fetal adiposity in singleton and twin pregnancies. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 2005; 288:R39-45.

Williams SJ, Campbell ME, McMillen IC and Davidge ST. Differential effects of maternal hypoxia or nutrient restriction on carotid and femoral vascular function in neonatal rats. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 2005; 288:R360-3677.

Mühlhäusler BS, Adam CL, Marrocco EM, Findlay PA, Roberts CT, McFarlane JR, Kauter KG and McMillen IC. Impact of glucose infusion on the structural and functional characteristics of adipose tissue and on hypothalamic gene expression for appetite regulatory neuropeptides in the sheep fetus during late gestation. Journal of Physiology 2005; 15;565(Pt 1):185-95.

Danielson L, McMillen IC, Dyer JL and Morrison JL. Restriction of placental growth results in greater hypotensive response to a -adrenergic blockade in fetal sheep during late gestation. Journal of Physiology 2005; 563:611-620.

McMillen IC, Adam CL and Muhlhausler BS. Early origins of obesity: programming the appetite regulatory system. Journal of Physiology 2005; 15;565(Pt 1):9-17.

MacLaughlin SM, Walker SK, Roberts CT, Kleemann DO, McMillen IC. Periconceptional nutrition and the relationship between maternal body weight changes in the periconceptional period and feto-placental growth in the sheep. Journal of Physiology 2005; 15;565(Pt 1):111-24.

McMillen IC and Robinson JS (2005) Developmental Origins of the Metabolic Syndrome: Prediction, Plasticity and Programming. Physiological Reviews 2005; 85(2):571-633.

Williams SJ, Hemmings DG, Mitchell JM, McMillen IC, Davidge ST. Effects of maternal hypoxia or nutrient restriction during pregnancy on endothelial function in adult male rat offspring. Journal of Physiology 2005; 15;565(Pt 1):125-35.

Morrison JL, Rurak DW, Chien C, Kennaway DJ, Gruber N, McMillen IC, Riggs KW. Maternal fluoxetine infusion does not alter fetal endocrine and biophysical circadian rhythms in pregnant sheep. J Soc Gynecol Investig 2005;12(5):356-64.

McMillen IC, Muhlhausler BS, Duffield JA, Yuen BS. Prenatal programming of postnatal obesity: fetal nutrition and the regulation of leptin synthesis and secretion before birth. Proc Nutr Soc 2004; 63(3):405-12.

Warnes KE, McMillen IC, Robinson JS, Coulter CL. Differential actions of metyrapone on the fetal pituitary-adrenal axis in the sheep fetus in late gestation. Biol Reprod 2004; 71(2):620-8.

Muhlhausler BS, McMillen IC, Rouzaud G, Findlay PA, Marrocco EM, Rhind SM, Adam CL. Appetite regulatory neuropeptides are expressed in the sheep hypothalamus before birth. J Neuroendocrinol 2004;16(6):502-7.

Morrison JL, Riggs KW, Chien C, Gruber N, McMillen IC, Rurak DW. Chronic maternal fluoxetine infusion in pregnant sheep: effects on the maternal and fetal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axes. Pediatr Res 2004; 56(1):40-6.

Budge H, Edwards LJ, McMillen IC, Bryce A, Warnes K, Pearce S, Stephenson T, Symonds ME. Nutritional manipulation of fetal adipose tissue deposition and uncoupling protein 1 messenger RNA abundance in the sheep: differential effects of timing and duration. Biol Reprod 2004; 71(1):359-65.

Yuen BS, Owens PC, Symonds ME, Keisler DH, McFarlane JR, Kauter KG, McMillen IC. Effects of leptin on fetal plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone and cortisol concentrations and the timing of parturition in the sheep. Biol Reprod 2004; 70(6):1650-7.

Gatford KL, De Blasio MJ, Thavaneswaran P, Robinson JS, McMillen IC, Owens JA. Postnatal ontogeny of glucose homeostasis and insulin action in sheep. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 2004; 286(6):E1050-9.

Keating DJ, Rychkov GY, Adams MB, Holgert H, McMillen IC, Roberts ML. Opioid receptor stimulation suppresses the adrenal medulla hypoxic response in sheep by actions on Ca(2+) and K(+) channels. J Physiol 2004; 1;555(Pt 2):489-502.

Williams SJ, Olson DM, Zaragoza DB, Coulter CL, Butler TG, Ross JT, McMillen IC. Cortisol infusion decreases renin, but not PGHS-2, EP2, or EP4 mRNA expression in the kidney of the fetal sheep at days 109-116. Pediatr Res 2004; 55(4):637-44.

Warnes KE, Coulter CL, Robinson JS, McMillen IC. The effect of intrafetal infusion of metyrapone on arterial blood pressure and on the arterial blood pressure response to angiotensin II in the sheep fetus during late gestation. J Physiol 2003; 15;552(Pt 2):621-33.

Muhlhausler BS, Roberts CT, Yuen BS, Marrocco E, Budge H, Symonds ME, McFarlane JR, Kauter KG, Stagg P, Pearse JK, McMillen IC. Determinants of fetal leptin synthesis, fat mass, and circulating leptin concentrations in well-nourished ewes in late pregnancy. Endocrinology 2003; 144(11):4947-54.

Coulter CL, Salkeld MD, McMillen IC. Adrenal TGFbeta1 mRNA levels fall during late gestation and are not regulated by cortisol in the sheep fetus. Mol Cell Endocrinol 2003; 29;206(1-2):85-91.

Warnes KE, Coulter CL, Robinson JS, McMillen IC. The effect of intrafetal infusion of metyrapone on arterial blood pressure and on the arterial blood pressure response to Angiotensin II in the sheep fetus during late gestation. J Physiol 2003; 15;552(Pt 2):621-33.

Yuen BS, Owens PC, Muhlhausler BS, Roberts CT, Symonds ME, Keisler DH, McFarlane JR, Kauter KG, Evens Y, McMillen IC. Leptin alters the structural and functional characteristics of adipose tissue before birth. FASEB J 2003; 17(9):1102-4.