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Prof Tony Plant

Biography

Emeritus Professor, University of Pittsburgh, USA

I received my PhD from the University of London in 1971. My post-doctoral studies were conducted with Ernst Knobil at the University of Pittsburgh, at the time when it was discovered that pulsatile GnRH stimulation of the pituitary was essential for driving sustained LH and FSH secretion. I joined the Faculty at the University of Pittsburgh in 1978. From 1985 until 2013 I served as Director of a multi-investigator NIH funded Center to study the physiology of reproduction. I also served as President of the International Neuroendocrine Federation from 2007-2010 and was Co Editor in Chief of the 4th Edition of Knobil and Neill’s Physiology of Reproduction.

Throughout my career, I utilized non-human primate models to better understand human reproduction. I am particularly interested in the neurobiology of puberty onset and the neuroendocrine control of the menstrual cycle and testis. My research has underlined the concept that puberty is triggered by a reawakening of pulsatile GnRH release; a mode of secretion that has been held in check since infancy by a neurobiological brake imposed upon the GnRH pulse generating neuronal network upstream from the GnRH neuron. I have enjoyed mentoring many students and post-doctoral fellows (both basic and clinical). I divide my retirement between the UK and US.