Circadian rhythms and cycling patterns of gene expression have great significance for living organisms - including ourselves! Find out more about the molecular basis of circadian rhythms and how close we are to engineering them using synthetic biology.
'Approaches to investigate the circadian system in Marchantia'
Lukas Mueller, Department of Plant Sciences
In Lukas Mueller's OpenPlant project, he is investigating the circadian clock in Marchantia polymorpha and analysing the regulation of clock behaviour and outputs in this relative of early land plants.
'Circadian Rhythms: Everything you always wanted to know about Jet Lag (but were too tired to ask)'
John O'Neill, MRC-LMB
Circadian rhythms are endogenous ~24h cycles that organise the biology of most organisms to keep time with the environmental cycle of day and night. In humans, circadian rhythms are observed at every level of biological scale, from our sleep/wake cycle to molecular oscillations within every cell of the body. Disruption of this biological clock, as occurs during shift work, has been strongly linked with conditions such type II diabetes, neurodegeneration, cardiovascular disease and various cancers. John's talk feature a whirlwind tour through the history of chronobiology research, from the 4th century BC to the recent Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Café Synthetique is the monthly meetup for the Cambridge synthetic biology community with informal talks, discussion and pub snacks.
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