Rate My Professor Karl Iremonger

Associate Professor Karl Iremonger serves in the Department of Physiology, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, at the University of Otago, where he leads the Iremonger Laboratory and acts as a Principal Investigator at the Centre for Neuroendocrinology. He completed a BSc in Physiology and a Bachelor of Physical Education (Honours) at the University of Otago. He then pursued graduate studies at the University of Calgary, Canada, earning an MSc and PhD in Neuroscience; his doctoral thesis investigated hypothalamic neurons that control water balance. In 2010, he returned to the University of Otago for postdoctoral research on hypothalamic neurons regulating fertility, focusing on GnRH neurons' structure and function. Appointed as a Lecturer in the Department of Physiology in 2014, he has advanced to Associate Professor, establishing an independent research program centered on the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus.

Iremonger's research examines how corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) neurons in the PVN respond to stress, integrating signals from brainstem and higher brain regions like the prefrontal cortex and amygdala to orchestrate hormonal stress responses. Employing electrophysiology, optogenetics, live-cell imaging, and fibre photometry in awake behaving animals, his lab explores CRH neuron excitability, synaptic plasticity via endocannabinoids and noradrenergic inputs, adaptations to chronic stress, and influences of physiological states such as the estrous cycle. Notable publications include 'Ultradian rhythms of CRHPVN neuron activity, behavior, and stress hormone secretion' (PNAS, 2025), 'Plasticity and neuromodulation of neuroendocrine nerve terminals' (Journal of Neuroendocrinology, 2025), 'The paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus: A key node in the control of behavioural states' (Journal of Physiology, 2025), 'Estradiol regulates voltage-gated potassium currents in corticotropin-releasing hormone neurons' (Journal of Experimental Biology, 2023), and 'Regulation of corticotropin-releasing hormone neuronal network activity by noradrenergic stress signals' (Journal of Physiology, 2022). His pioneering discoveries, including novel neuronal communication mechanisms, earned the 2014 Prime Minister's MacDiarmid Emerging Scientist Prize ($200,000) and the 2019 Rowheath Trust Award with Carl Smith Research Medal for outstanding early-career achievements in hypothalamic stress research.