The Quanta Podcast How the Body’s Trillions of Clocks Keep Time
Sep 25, 2015
Explore the fascinating role of cellular clocks in human health and development, and discover how the PASD1 protein impacts these rhythms, potentially influencing cancer and stem cell function. Dive into innovative research that merges physics with ecology to enhance biodiversity understanding, especially in complex ecosystems like the Amazon. Learn about the challenges of studying species distribution in regions like the Western Ghats and how new, simplified ecological modeling methods could revolutionize conservation strategies.
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A Database Scan Sparks A Clock Discovery
- Carrie Parch discovered an unfamiliar protein, PASD1, while scanning a protein database and noticed similarity to the core clock protein CLOCK.
- That observation led her to investigate how some cells escape daily rhythms and the role PASD1 might play.
Trillions Of Cellular Clocks Drive Physiology
- Nearly every cell contains its own circadian clock that cycles daily via protein complexes like CLOCK and BMAL1.
- These clocks regulate thousands of genes and influence processes from waking to metabolism and disease risk.
Lab Schedules Hid A Daytime Protein
- Uli Schibler's lab found a transcription factor that appeared or disappeared depending on what time of day rats were killed.
- A student who sampled rats at 7 a.m. couldn't detect the protein that a later-sampling postdoc found easily in the afternoon.