Professor Marilyn Renfree 12th International Mammalogical Congress

Professor Marilyn Renfree

IMarilyn Renfree is a reproductive and developmental biologist whose research has focussed almost entirely on marsupials because of their intrinsic interest and for the opportunities they provide as biomedical models for understanding mammalian reproduction and development Her laboratory is known internationally for its study of marsupials that have resulted in a number of discoveries that challenged the accepted dogma in several areas including early mammalian development, physiological and molecular control of embryonic diapause, placentation, sex determination, sexual differentiation, virilisation ,genomic imprinting, conservation and evolution, and bringing a gene from the extinct Tasmanian Tiger back to life. She is the Ian Potter Chair of Zoology and was Head of Department at The University of Melbourne from 1991 -2003, an ARC Federation Fellow 2003-8, Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Kangaroo Genomics from 2008-10 and was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) on Australia Day 2013. She is a currently Laureate Professor of the University of Melbourne and was Secretary, Biological Sciences and Vice President of the Australian Academy of Science until June last year.