Dr Samara Walpole, PhD

Dr. Samara Walpole is a postdoctoral researcher in biological psychiatry, specialising in postmortem human brain studies to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying neuropsychiatric disorders. Her research explores subgroup differences, with a particular focus on sex-specific alterations in psychiatric illnesses such as major depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.
During her PhD, Dr. Walpole identified sex-specific changes in the kynurenine pathway in major depression, highlighting critical neurobiological differences that could inform novel treatment strategies. Her postdoctoral work expands on this by investigating inflammation, glutamate, and dopamine pathways in schizophrenia, using human brain cohorts from the Stanley Brain Bank and NSW Tissue Resource Centre. Dr. Walpole is interested in understanding how inflammatory processes influence neurotransmitter systems and whether these effects differ by sex.
Dr. Walpole has established key collaborations with leading researchers to integrate transcriptomic and molecular approaches, advancing the field’s understanding of psychiatric disorders. Her work has resulted in multiple publications and ongoing projects extending across several brain regions. Passionate about bridging preclinical and clinical findings, she aims to refine molecular targets for future therapeutic strategies by identifying biologically meaningful differences between the sexes within psychiatric disorders.