Alexander Kauffman is interested in reproductive neuroendocrinology; that is, how the brain controls reproduction. With this in mind, he studies how neuropeptides in specific brain regions stimulate or inhibit reproductive control centers in the forebrain, and how these processes affect an animal’s reproductive physiology and fertility. Kauffman is also interested in how neural regulatory circuits are affected by developmental factors, such as hormones and neural signals, and environmental factors, such as stress, both in adulthood and during puberty and sexual differentiation. Kauffman’s long-term goal is to apply what he and his collaborators learn about the neuroendocrine control of reproduction to improving and advancing medical and therapeutic treatments of human infertility, precocious or delayed puberty, and other reproductive disorders.
Kauffman is an assistant professor in the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego. He received his Ph.D. in Integrative Biology from the University of California in 2002, and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, and a senior post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Washington, Seattle.