Circadian Keynote: “Circadian Clock Mechanisms in Mammals and Their Relevance to Aging and Longevity” – 2019 Keynote
Dr. Takahashi is Chair of the Department of Neuroscience at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. The Takahashi Lab is interested in understanding the genetic and molecular basis of circadian rhythms as well as other complex behaviors.
Circadian rhythms are key to maintaining homeostasis and their disruption has been associated with neurological and metabolic changes in humans and other mammals, such as sleeping disruption, bipolar disorder, and aging. Takahashi and his team use the mouse as a model organism to discover genes associated with the regulation of circadian behaviors and the team applies techniques from genomics, biochemistry and structural biology to investigate the genes’ functions in the molecular mechanisms underlying the circadian clock.
In 2004, Dr. Takahashi developed the Per2:luc mouse, “PERIOD2::LUCIFERASE real-time reporting of circadian dynamics reveals persistent circadian oscillations in mouse peripheral tissues” to date, it is the only transgenic mouse of its kind.
Dr. Takahashi is the author of more than 260 scientific publications and the recipient of many awards including the Honma Prize in Biological Rhythms Research, NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award, Searle Scholars Award, Bristol-Myers Squibb Unrestricted Grant in Neuroscience, and the C. U. Ariens Kappers Medal. He received the W. Alden Spencer Award in Neuroscience from Columbia University in 2001, was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2000, a Member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2003 and a Member of the National Academy of Medicine in 2014.
Learn More: https://profiles.utsouthwestern.edu/profile/105885/joseph-takahashi.html