Name: Charles W. Weitz

Research Description:

We study the molecular biology and genetics of mammalian circadian clocks, endogenous oscillators that drive daily rhythms in behavior and physiology. Under natural conditions, circadian clocks become precisely synchronized, or entrained, to the 24-hour light-dark cycle by the action of light on circadian photoreceptors. Together the intrinsic rhythms of the circadian clock and its entrainment to light-dark cycles control the temporal organization of complex behavioral and metabolic programs. In flies and mammals, the master circadian clock regulating behavioral activity is located within specific clock cells in the brain. Of late it has become clear that multiple peripheral tissues in mammals contain circadian clocks, but the roles of peripheral clocks and their relationships to the central clock are not yet understood.

A general picture of how circadian clocks are built has emerged in recent years from studies of the first handful of clock genes to be cloned. The core mechanism is a transcriptional feedback loop, highly conserved across all animal species, wherein the products of several clock genes cooperate to inhibit the transcription factors responsible for their own activation.

We use molecular biology, biochemistry, and genetics to investigate the mammalian circadian system. The focus of our efforts has been to identify and characterize molecular components of circadian clocks and to identify molecular pathways by which central circadian clocks drive rhythms in locomotor activity and feeding behavior. Recently we have developed a conditional genetic strategy to investigate the physiological roles of specific central and peripheral clocks.

Contact Information

Address:
Department of Neurobiology
Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA
USA

Phone:  (617) 432-0322
Fax:  (617) 734-7557