Abstract:
The Rosbash laboratory is interested in RNA processing as well as the genes and mechanisms that underlie circadian rhythms. Rosbash's research group cloned the Drosophila period gene in 1984 and in 1990 proposed that PER is important for a negative-feedback loop of gene expression and that transcription of the per gene itself is affected. As PER was shown to be nuclear, they proposed that it rather directly inhibits the transcription of its own mRNA. Their current circadian work has three major goals: (1) to understand in mechanistic detail how the Drosophila circadian timing occurs; (2) to understand how circadian gene expression regulation takes place; (3) to understand the neural circuit(s) relevantto circadian timekeeping within the fruit fly brain and the functions of individual circadian neurons. Professor Rosbash was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2003.
