Joseph Takahashi

BIOGRAPHY

ACADEMIC POSITION:
Professor and Chair, Neuroscience Department

RESEARCH OVERVIEW:
The long-term goals of the Takahashi laboratory are to understand the molecular and genetic basis of circadian rhythms in mammals and to utilize forward genetic approaches in the mouse as a tool for gene discovery for complex behavior. In the five years, we have focused our attention in five areas: 1) identification of circadian clock genes and assignment of their function in the molecular mechanism of the circadian pacemaker; 2) analysis of central and peripheral circadian oscillators using real-time circadian reporters; 3) single-cell analysis of circadian oscillations using bioluminescence imaging methods; 4) in vivo analysis of circadian clock components using tissue-specific and conditional expression of circadian genes in mice; and, 5) identification of genes defined by mutations isolated in the large-scale mutagenesis screens we have conducted on neural and behavioral phenotypes.

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Molecular neuroscience, circadian biology, mouse genetics and genomics, genetic dissection of behavior, oscillator dynamics.


HOME PAGE
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