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Professor Allan Herbison focuses on understanding the properties and functioning of key neural populations that control fertility in mammals, particularly the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons and kisspeptin neurons. Together, these cell types generate the 'pulse' and 'surge' patterns of hormone secretion responsible for initiating puberty and subsequently maintaining reproductive function in adult males and females. He utilizes mouse models and the latest neuroscience approaches to address questions such as: How does the neural circuitry produce the abrupt episodes of GnRH secretion that generate pulsatile reproductive hormone secretion? What circuitry generates the complete 'surge' pattern of GnRH secretion that triggers ovulation at the midpoint of the female cycle? How do steroids like estrogen and progesterone modulate this neural circuitry? What goes wrong in these systems, leading to conditions such as infertility, hypothalamic amenorrhea, and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)?
Standard postgraduate requirements for Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS) and related humanities departments.