The Opossum Lady from Oz

Marilyn Renfree

A native Australian, Marilyn Renfree graduated of the Australian National University where she completed her PhD with Hugh Tyndale-Biscoe. From her initial work on the maternal-fetal interactions in mammals, Renfree’s research expanded to understanding reproduction in general with a focus on her fellow Australian mammals: marsupials. This work led to investigating embryonic diapause and delayed implantation. Renfree’s research was part of an Australian renaissance exploring the extensive physiological diversity of marsupials.

After her PhD, Renfree did a Fulbright Fellowship at the University of Tennessee and worked on uterine proteins in the North American opossum. She also spent time in Edinburgh for an extended period as a Ford Fellow where she worked with another of our female scientists, Anne McLaren. In fact they co-authored a paper in Nature.

Dr. Renfree has documented the control of reproduction in marsupials, the evolution of sex chromosomes, and other aspects of reproduction in particular embryonic diapause. Much of her work focused on Tammar wallabies (Macropus eugenii) because, as she says, ‘the only day they are not pregnant is when they give birth.’ Her papers explore both proximate causes as well as ultimate explanations of reproduction in mammals. Menstruation is another topic that Dr. Renfree has researched extensively.

Her most recent papers use modern molecular methods to explore the biology of marsupials, e.g., ‘Marsupials in the age of Genomics’ with yet another of our female scientists, Jennifer Marshall Graves. But her focus is still reproductive: the origins of milk, gene expression associated with implantation and placentation and in the mammary gland, differentiation of male and female reproductive tracts, as well as gonad and gametogenesis. Her most recent work investigates the evolution of genomic imprinting using the fact that some genes are not imprinted in marsupials. Dr. Renfree’s research continues to be both interesting and current. A recent publication ‘Everything about Kangaroos’ also attests to her breadth.

From her academic home at the University of Melbourne, Dr. Renfree has international recognition as the leading expert on marsupial biology and reproductive biology. She has been awarded a series of awards including election as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1997. (Photo courtesy of Marilyn Renfree, used with permission.)