Rate My Professor Amy Navratil

Amy Navratil serves as Department Head and Associate Professor in the Department of Zoology and Physiology at the University of Wyoming, where she also holds the Hank Gardner/Marilyn Fiske Endowed Chair in Biomedical Physiology. She earned a B.S. in Microbiology from Colorado State University in 1999 and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from the same institution in 2005. Following her doctorate, Navratil completed postdoctoral training in Reproductive Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, and in Biomedical Sciences at Cornell University. In addition to her primary role, she is an Associate Professor and Block Lead for the Lifecycle block in the WWAMI Medical Education Program within the University of Wyoming College of Health Sciences. Navratil teaches Human Systems Physiology (ZOO 3115) to undergraduate students.

Navratil's research centers on the molecular mechanisms of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) signaling in gonadotrope cells of the anterior pituitary, with a focus on how GnRH communicates with the cytoskeleton to regulate secretory events critical for luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) release, which are essential for mammalian fertility. Her investigations explore actin filaments, secretory granules, and cytoskeletal dynamics in response to GnRH stimulation. She has published extensively in this area, with key works including "GnRH signaling, the gonadotrope and endocrine control of fertility" (Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology, 2010, 324 citations), "Constitutive localization of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) receptor to low density membrane microdomains is necessary for GnRH signaling to ERK" (Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2003, 190 citations), "Effects of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone outside the hypothalamic-pituitary-reproductive axis" (Journal of Neuroendocrinology, 2009, 130 citations), "ERK signaling in the pituitary is required for female but not male fertility" (Molecular Endocrinology, 2009, 109 citations), and "Neuroendocrine Plasticity in the Anterior Pituitary: Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone-Mediated Movement in Vitro and in Vivo" (Endocrinology, 2007, 78 citations). Her contributions have advanced understanding of reproductive endocrinology and gonadotrope function. Navratil's endowed chair recognizes her excellence in biomedical physiology research and teaching.