Building on breakthroughs related to the body’s CLOCK

For more than three decades, Joseph S. Takahashi, Ph.D., Chair and Professor of Neuroscience, has been producing groundbreaking research into circadian rhythms, giving new insight into the role of the body’s biological clocks in everything from insomnia to cancer.

In the 1990s, Dr. Takahashi discovered CLOCK, the first mammalian gene controlling circadian rhythms. Subsequent research established CLOCK as a prominent regulator of many genes and a key target to better understand the primary underpinnings of human physiology. The Takahashi Lab went on to discover that CLOCK is intertwined with an extensive list of biochemical pathways. It is even involved in metabolism, as the group found while investigating why mice with CLOCK mutations become obese with age.

More recently, he co-led a study suggesting the CLOCK gene may play a key role in the extraordinary cognitive abilities of humans as well as neuropsychiatric disorders that afflict them. The research could lead to new treatments for seasonal affective disorder, depression, schizophrenia, and other conditions.