Moenter Lab

The overall goal of our laboratory’s research is to determine the mechanisms underlying how the brain regulates fertility. This is accomplished through episodic secretion of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). Despite its importance, the mechanisms underlying GnRH release and its regulation by a variety of factors that affect fertility (e.g., development, stress, nutrition) are not well understood. We use transgenic mouse models in which the reporter gene green fluorescent protein (GFP) is genetically targeted to GnRH neurons or other neurons in the brain that are important for controlling these cells, such as neurons that produce kisspeptin and astroglia. These mice enable us to identify living cells in brain slices and study them using electrophysiological, viral, chemogenetic, imaging and molecular approaches. Work in the lab ranges from pretty nerdy biophysics and modeling, through whole-animal reproductive studies