Phd in Biology (2013). Working as a postdoc focusing on the neuroendocrine regulation of sexual maturation and puberty. Part of the NMBU talent program.

My research focus is on elucidating mechanisms behind the differentiated synthesis and release of the pituitary hormones follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), which regulate sexual maturation. In my research I have used a variety of fish species as a model but now working mainly with medaka. Unlike in other vertebrates, fish species synthesises FSH and LH in two distinct cell types.

We still do not know how puberty begins in vertebrates. The process is complex and largely governed by genetics. In both mammals and fish, genetic regulation is however affected by external factors, which finely adjust the exact time for the transition from immaturity to adulthood. FSH and LH are essential to the maturation of all vertebrates.

The brain secretes the gonadotropin-releasing hormone GnRH, which in turn stimulates the pituitary gland to release FSH and LH into the blood. Both FSH and LH affect the gonads, but during different phases. FSH is most important during the early stage of maturation, while LH plays a more decisive role during the final stages. How this differentiated regulation occurs is not known, partly because both hormones are produced in the same type of cell in all mammals, including humans. But in fish, FSH and LH are produced in two different types of cells and this allows separate studies to be carried out in order to ascertain how the regulation of FSH and LH takes place.

The secretion of FSH and LH is triggered by an increased level of calcium ions (Ca2+) in the cell’s cytosol. Ca2+ can either be released from stores inside the cell itself, or enter the cell from outside. One of the main aims is understand how the gonadotrope cells utilize the different Ca2+ stores during hormone secretion. To decipher these complex events I combine patch-clamp electrophysiology with Ca2+ imaging. In addition, I'm now working on flash photolysis technique called uncaging. This technique allows us to activate a variety of molecules like Ca2+ using high intensity light or laser and thereby control cellular events in both time and space.