FSU EXPERT AVAILABLE TO DISCUSS CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS, NOBEL PRIZE WINNING RESEARCH

Newswise — TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology was awarded Monday to American scientists Jeffery C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young for their research on circadian rhythms — the 24-hour biological cycles that help regulate many crucial physiological processes.  

Florida State University Professor of Biomedical Sciences James Olcese is available to discuss circadian rhythms and the Nobel Prize winning research.

James Olcese, professor, College of Medicine: [email protected]; (850) 645-1479

Olcese’s research focuses include circadian physiology, neuroendocrine mechanisms and Alzheimer dementia and melatonin. He is a member of the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms, an associate editor for the journal Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience and chief specialty editor for the journal Frontiers in Endocrinology.

“Circadian clocks underlie nearly every biological process, from metabolism and cell division rhythms to hormonal and psychiatric rhythms. Using fruit flies as a model organism, Hall, Rosbash and Young identified and characterized the general cellular and genetic machinery that controls normal 24-hour rhythms. They demonstrated in a number of elegant studies in the 1980s and 1990s, that specific ‘clock proteins’ accumulate during the day, only to be degraded at night, and that these proteins drive a variety of physiological and behavioral rhythms. Subsequent research across the globe has validated their model and established the circadian clock as a key player in health and disease.”

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