Louise Frances Basford Nicholson CNZM (nee Green) is a New Zealand neuroscientist, and is professor emerita at the University of Auckland, specialising in molecular mechanisms common to neurodegenerative diseases.

[1] She completed a Masters and then a PhD titled Structure and function of the Malpighian tubules of the larva of the New Zealand glow-worm Arachnocampa luminosa (Skuse) at the University of Auckland.

[2][3][4] Nicholson spent two and half years as a visiting fellow at Lady Margaret Hall in Oxford, and then returned to New Zealand, where she taught science at Mahurangi College from 1981 to 1988.

[5] Nicholson then joined the faculty of the Department of Anatomy with Radiology at the University of Auckland, initially as a senior lecturer.

[7] Nicholson was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship in 1978 to attend Lady Margaret Hall as a Visiting Fellow for two years.