Data-driven and evidence-based researcher

June, 2020

Divergent sequence of clock genes in different organisms are not a barrier for a convergent evolutionary clock.

How circadian clocks were evolved is a big topic. At the first sight, it might be hard to believe that the clock we have seen in fungus, animals and many other organisms share similar mechanism.  Well, it was also hard to believe that the complex behavior like rest/activity is regulated by only a set of…

Posted by on June 14, 2020 in News

Outside of rhythms, a role of Clock gene in human brain evolution

Clock gene, a core clock component is also involved in gene regulation outside of circadian rhythms. A recent study of the labs of Drs. Genevieve Konopka and Joe Takahashi suggests that Clock is also a key point in the hierarchy of molecular pathways for human brain development and evolution. We look forward that the involvement of “humanized mice” research…

Posted by on June 14, 2020 in News

We love research. How can we prepare a successful doctoral and postdoctoral research?

I believe almost all professors want to be great mentors as professors themselves benefited greatly from their own mentors’ support during their career development.  Different trainees may have different type of views in the relationship with their mentors. Those resources might be helpful for those who want to learn more about this topic. https://www.niaid.nih.gov/grants-contracts/choose-mentor https://www.niaid.nih.gov/grants-contracts/postdoc-guide

Posted by on June 14, 2020 in News

A beloved community, a top university.

“Vanderbilt’s mission of research, teaching and service to humanity cannot be fully achieved unless we create a beloved community that includes everyone equally and provides the opportunity to realize each person’s full potential.”  Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos https://admissions.vanderbilt.edu/life/diversity.php

Posted by on June 14, 2020 in News

More circadian rhythms detected by omics approaches

The S2 cell line is a popular Drosophila cell line, which is widely used in the fields of cell biology and biochemistry. By measuring a traditional reporter and canonical clock genes expression, it seemed that this cell line lacked a circadian rhythm. However, when omics approaches were applied, circadian rhythms were detected at all levels from…

Posted by on June 14, 2020 in News

How is the intrinsic clock operated in malaria parasite cells? A whole new circadian clock mechanism!

It is clear now that the malaria parasite has an intrinsic clock. Two recent Science articles by the labs of Dr. Takahashi at UTSW and Dr. Haase at Duke elegantly demonstrated this very exciting  discovery. The massive gene expression programs that are regulated by this newly discovered  circadian oscillator in Plasmodium is more like what happens in the cyanobacteria (Liu et…

Posted by on June 14, 2020 in News