Drugging the Human Circadian Clock!

The human body aligns to Earth’s 24-hour cycle using ‘about a day’ rhythms, called circadian rhythms. These internally generated rhythms synchronize our physiology and behavior to the day-night cycle. They control a large part of our biology, from when we sleep at night to how quickly we heal from injury. Disruption of our circadian clock, as occurs during jetlag, can interfere with a good night of sleep, and chronic disruption, such as shift work, can lead to detrimental health effects like diabetes, obesity, mood disorders, and even cancer. At the molecular level, circadian rhythms are generated by an intricate interaction between biomolecules like DNA and pr tein. These interactions give rise to daily gene oscillations that maintain biological timekeeping. My lab uses the power of chemistry and physics to explore these DNA-protein interactions and understand the mechanism of circadian rhythms. My research focuses on the question – can we drug our circadian rhythm to improve human health and well-being and enhance sleep quality? In this talk, I will highlight how I use structural biology techniques to study the ‘clock’ proteins at the atomic level and to target them with drug-like small molecules to manipulate rhythms to cure sleep-related disorders.