Mitra Kulkarni

Mitra is a Toxicology Scholar and a second-year PhD student in the Neuroscience Program, doing research under the guidance of Dr. Catherine Christian-Hinman. Her research focuses on understanding how the effects of temporal lobe epilepsy, a neurological disorder characterized by hyperexcitability and seizures, are mediated to the arcuate and AVPV kisspeptin neurons and the GnRH neurons in the hypothalamus to influence the reproductive endocrine system. With the current project, she proposes determining the impact of exposure to environmental toxins like phthalates on the properties, activity, and firing patterns of Kisspeptin neurons.