From People - School of Science, The University of Tokyo
朴 民根 (ぱく みんくん)
PARK, Min Kyun
| Title | Associate Professor |
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| Affiliation | Department of Biological Sciences (Zoological Science), Graduate School of Science |
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| Room | 246, Faculty of Science Bldg.2, 2F |
| TEL | +81-3-5841-4437 24437 (ext.) |
Research Field
Endocrinology, Reproductive Biology
Research Subject
Molecular and physiological diversity of the vertebrate reproductive endocrine system.
Current Research
The hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis functions as a main signaling system regulating the reproductive activity of vertebrates. However, the pituitary gland is found only in vertebrates, and two major questions arise from this fact. First, how was the brain (hypothalamus) able to regulate the gonadal activities before the pituitary gland has evolved. Second, how has the function of the pituitary gland evolved. From these points of view, the following topics are under investigation： ---- 1) Diversity of the physiological function of the GnRH signaling system： (a) Physiological role(s) of GnRH in peripheral tissues (b) Mechanism of GnRH as a cell growth regulator ---- 2) Diversity of the molecular characteristic of pituitary glycoprotein hormones and their receptors： (a) Hormonal regulation of the carbohydrate moieties of glycoprotein hormones (b) Physiological function of the short variants of LH receptor mRNA ---- 3) Reproductive endocrinology of the leopard gecko, a lizard： (a) Reproductive endocrine system and environmental adaptation. (b) Mechanism of temperature-dependent sex determination.
Keywords
reproduction, sex determination, sex differentiation, reptile, lizard, environment, adaptation, evolution, hypothalamus, pituitary, gonad, GnRH, GTH, steroid, endocrine, hormone, receptor,