Michael Rosbash . Researcher, scientist geneticist and American Chronobiologist winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine 2017. Professor at Brandeis University and researcher at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Discoverer of the molecular mechanisms behind circadian rhythms, known as the functioning of the body’s biological clock . This mechanism helps regulate sleep, eating, and many other things like jetlag.
Summary
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- 1 Biographical synthesis
- 2 Studies and scientific career
- 3 Awards and distinctions
- 4 Biological clock
- 1 The cause of jet lag
- 5 Sources
Biographical synthesis
He was born on 7 of March of 1944 , in the city of Kansas City , United States .
Studies and scientific trajectory
American scientist, geneticist and chronobiologist, focused on the neurology and behavior of Drosophila melanogaster. He spent his entire career studying the neurological components of the fly’s courtship and its behavioral rhythms.
He is currently a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and laboratory chief at the National Center for Behavioral Genomics at Brandeis University in the United States.
Thanks to these observations, he made contributions on the functioning of biological clocks, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Medicine. He is currently a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
In 2007, Rosbash led a work entitled “Drosophila’s circadian network is a seasonal timer” that was published in the prestigious journal Cell and shared authorship with five other researchers, including Ceriani. “In this study we identified that the communication between specific groups of” clock neurons “underlies the temporal adjustment of activity throughout the day, and especially throughout the seasons of the year”,
Awards and distinctions
- Gruber Prize for Neuroscience (2009)
- Louisa Gross Horwitz Award (2011)
- International Canada Gairdner Award (2012)
- Massry Award (2012)
- Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2017)
Biological clock
Most living creatures on Earth , including humans, are adapted to the rotation of the planet thanks to an internal biological clock that sets, for example, sleep patterns and metabolism. For many years, scientists have known about these circadian rhythms. American scientist Jeffrey C. Hall unraveled in the 1980s how such a watch is actually wound. That is, what are the molecular mechanisms that control it, for which it has been recognized by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm with the 2017 Nobel Prize in Medicine. The first clue to the existence of this biological clock was obtained by astronomer Jean Jacques d ‘Ortous de Mairan in the18th century while studying mimosa plants , whose leaves open towards the Sun during the day and close at dusk. When he placed the plants in constant darkness, he discovered that regardless of the [[sunlight, the leaves followed their daily oscillation. They responded to invisible hands.
This clock adapts physiology “drastically” to the different phases of the day, the so-called circadian cycle, regulating from behavior to hormonal levels, body temperature or metabolism, explained the jury in its ruling.
Other researchers, such as Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young, found that not only plants, but also animals and humans adapt to the fluctuations of the day, which is known as the circadian rhythm.
Using humble fruit flies as a model organism as well, the researchers isolated a gene that controls biological rhythm based on 24-hour cycles of night and day. They showed that this gene encodes a protein that accumulates in the cell during the night, and then breaks down during the day. Later, they identified additional protein components of this machinery, so that they were able to recognize the mechanism that governs this kind of clockwork within the cell. Thanks to that, scientists now know that biological clocks work on the same principles in cells of other multicellular organisms, including ourselves.
The laureates have explained “how plants, animals and humans have adapted the biological clock” to “synchronize it with the rotations of the Earth”, which applies both to the “jet lag” caused by transatlantic air travel and to chlorophyll function of vegetables.
The cause of jet lag
The clock regulates critical functions such as behavior, hormone levels, sleep, body temperature, and metabolism
With exquisite precision, our internal clock adapts our physiology to radically different phases of the day. The clock regulates critical functions, such as behavior, hormonal levels, sleep, body temperature and metabolism, explain from the Karolinska Institute. In this way, our well-being is affected when there is a temporary mismatch between our external environment and the internal biological clock, for example when we travel through various time zones and experience the dreaded and heavy «jet lag», disorders similar to those that causes shift work.
There are indications that the chronic mismatch between our lifestyle and the rhythm dictated by our internal timer is associated with an increased risk of suffering from various diseases such as diabetes, mental health problems and even some types of cancer and possible alterations in function cerebral. One of the latest research in respect of Northwestern University (Illinois) says that our internal clock is able to set how and when the pancreas to produce insulin and control the sugar in the blood. Some pharmaceutical companies even experiment with medicines capable of restoring the correct rhythm in those people who, due to their way of life, are exposed to disorders of this type.
The field that opens is vast. Francisco Martín, a researcher at the Cajal Institute of the CSIC, has no doubt that it is a “well deserved” award. He also works on circadian rhythms with the fruit fly, like the nobel winners. In his opinion, the path opened by the three American scientists will allow attacking diseases from another path. Cancer and Alzheimer’s are two possibilities. «Today it is known that patients with a type of brain cancer (glioma) and people with Alzheimer’s have altered their circadian rhythm. They do not sleep well and sometimes they do not know if it is day or night, is it an effect of the disease or a consequence? We don’t know that yet, but it is a new perspective to explore. At the very least, we would improve the patient’s life, “he says.
