Pei-San Tsai

Integrative Physiology; Member of the Center for Neuroscience

Department of Integrative Physiology
N122 Ramaley
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309-0334

email: pei-san.tsai@colorado.edu
Voice (303) 735-1877
FAX (303) 492-4009
Website: http://stripe.Colorado.EDU/~tsaip/

Dr. Pei-San Tsai is an associate professor of Integrative Physiology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She received her B.S. from Texas A&M University, and both her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Tsai's research focuses on the evolution of the structure and function of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), a neurohormone that is central to the initiation and maintenance of reproduction in vertebrates, and the development of a small population of neurons that synthesize GnRH. Current efforts involve the utilization of molecular, cellular, and physiological techniques and various vertebrate and invertebrate models to study the biology of GnRH.

Selected Publications:

P-S Tsai and L Zhang (2008). The emergence and loss of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) in protostomes: Orthology, phylogeny, structure, and function. Biol Reprod, in press.


WC Chung, SS Moyle and P-S Tsai (2008). Fibroblast growth factor 8 signaling through FGF receptor 1 is required for the emergence of gonadotropin-releasing hormone neurons. Endocrinology, in press.


J Falardeau, WC Chung, A Beekeen, L Plummer, Y Sidis, T Raivio, A Dwyer, S Na, J Hall, C Huot, N Alois, R Quinton, L W Cole, V Hughes, M Mohammadi,P-S Tsai and N Pitteloud (2008).Decreased FGF8 signaling causes GnRH deficiency in human and mice. J Clin Invest 118:2822-2831.


L Zhang, JA Tello, W Zhang and P-S Tsai (2008). Molecular cloning, expression pattern, and immunocytochemical localization of a gonadotropin-releasing hormone-like molecule in the gastropod mollusk, Aplysia californica. Gen Comp Endocrinol 156:201-209.