Rate My Professor Jenny Clarkson

Dr. Jenny Clarkson is a Research Fellow and Lecturer in the Department of Physiology, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, Health Sciences Division, University of Otago. As Principal Investigator of the Clarkson Laboratory within the Centre for Neuroendocrinology, she leads research on neural circuits regulating fertility and menopausal symptoms. Clarkson obtained her BPhEd, MPhEd, and PhD from the University of Otago, completing her PhD in 2008 under Professor Allan Herbison, where she investigated the role of kisspeptin in the activation of GnRH neurons. She received the Hubbard Award for PhD Excellence in 2007 from the Physiological Society of New Zealand for her work on kisspeptin activation of GnRH neurons at puberty. Following her doctorate, she continued her career at Otago, earning the Early Career Speaker Prize in 2012 from the Otago Medical School Research Society. Her contributions have advanced understanding of reproductive neurobiology through pioneering studies on GnRH pulse generation and kisspeptin signaling.

Clarkson's research interests center on the neural mechanisms controlling fertility across the lifespan, with a focus on kisspeptin neurons coordinating reproductive hormone secretion, thermoregulation, and menopausal hot flushes. She leads projects investigating the neurobiology of hot flushes and the connection between hot flushes and sleep disruption, using advanced techniques including fibre photometry, optogenetics, and chemogenetics to monitor and manipulate neuron activity in vivo while measuring physiological variables. Key publications include "Definition of the hypothalamic GnRH pulse generator in mice" (PNAS, 2017), "Definition of the estrogen negative feedback pathway controlling the GnRH pulse generator in female mice" (Nature Communications, 2022), "Kisspeptin–GPR54 signaling is essential for preovulatory gonadotropin-releasing hormone neuron activation and the luteinizing hormone surge" (Journal of Neuroscience, 2008), "Dependence of fertility on kisspeptin–Gpr54 signalling at the GnRH neuron" (Nature Communications, 2013), "Postnatal development of kisspeptin neurons in mouse hypothalamus; sexual dimorphism and projections to gonadotropin-releasing hormone neurons" (Endocrinology, 2006), and "Sexual differentiation of the brain requires perinatal kisspeptin-GnRH neuron signaling" (Journal of Neuroscience, 2014). She has secured major funding, including a Marsden Fund grant for "A Neural Circuit Linking Menopausal Hot Flushes and Awakening" and a Neurological Foundation project grant with Dr. Rosemary Brown. Clarkson's work has had substantial impact on neuroendocrinology, elucidating critical pathways in puberty, ovulation, and menopause.