Wired on Steroids | Donal Skinner | TEDxUWYO

Even before we are conceived, we are bathed in steroids. Steroids are everywhere either in their natural form or as chemically modified molecules. Increasingly we are aware of molecules that simply mimic them or interfere with their normal function. Steroids pass through all cells, override genes, and impact almost every biological system, from our bones to our brains. Their effects may be passed on through multiple generations. Steroids make us who we are. Donal C. Skinner received his PhD from the University of Cambridge, England in 1994, following a BS in Zoology and Computer Science from Rhodes University in South Africa. After post-doctoral fellowships at Cambridge and INRA in France, he was appointed to an Assistant Professorship at the Vet school at the University of Bristol before relocating to the University of Wyoming in 2002. His research during the past 30 years has focused on the seasonal mechanisms driving hormone secretion and, most recently, on the roles of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) outside the neuroendocrine reproductive axis. Skinner has published 80 papers in scientific journals, mostly on hormones secreted by the brain. He is a member of the Society of Neuroscience, British Neuroendocrine Society, and the Society for Reproduction and Fertility. He is an editorial board member of Neuroendocrinology and the Journal of Endocrinology and Reproduction. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

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