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Washington University in St. Louis News & Information > Faculty Experts at Washington University in St. Louis >
Assistant Professor of Biology in Arts & Sciences
Expertise: biological clocks, biology, ciradian rhythms, electrophysiology, in vivo real-time imaging, pacemaker cells
Bio: The circadian system of unicellular and multicellular organisms is a biological timekeeper that coordinates most physiological and hebavioral events on a daily schedule. The primary interest in Herzog's laboratory is the cellular and molecular basis for circadian rhythms, or our bilogical clocks. The focus is on the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus, a brain region that is required for circadian rhythms in mammals. Within the SCN, he and his group are only beginning to understand which cells are responsible for pacemaking, whether these cells are unique in their pacemaking abilities, and how these cells coordinate their activities to drive behavior. By combining electrophysiological and molecular techniques, they are identifying pacemaking cells, the mechanisms that coordinate their ensemble activity and that convey their signals to the rest of the brain and body. The lab compares the circadian rhythms expressed behaviorally and by cells and tissues using a variety of techniques including behavioral monitoring, multielectrode recording, and bioluminescence detection from animals carrying trangenic reporters.
WUSTL Contact Information:
| Work: | (314) 935-8635 |
| Fax: | (314) 935-4432 |
| Alt: | (314) 935-5214 |
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Showing 4 Stories.
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20,000 neurons keep steady time when working together
WUSTL research finds individual cells isolated from the biological clock can keep daily time, but are unreliable
Sept. 9,
2009 --
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| An isolated nerve cell busy keeping time. |
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Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have shown that individual cells isolated from the biological clock can keep daily time all by themselves. However, by themselves, they are unreliable. The neurons get out of synch and capriciously quit or start oscillating again. The biological clock, a one-square millimeter area of the brain just above the roof of the mouth and atop the crossing of the optic nerves, comprises about 20,000 neurons. These cells, remarkably, contain the machinery to generate daily, or circadian, rhythms in gene expression and electrical activity. But the individual cells are sloppy and must communicate with one another to establish a coherent 24-hour rhythm.
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Synchronized
Protein coordinates biological clock in mice
Feb. 7,
2007 --
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| Eric Chou |
| Testing the wake-sleep cycle |
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A biologist at Washington University in St. Louis and his collaborators have identified the factor in mammalian brain cells that keeps cells in synchrony so that functions like the wake-sleep cycle, hormone secretion and loco motor behaviors are coordinated daily.
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Smelling good!
Mice have biological clock for smell
Dec. 14,
2006 --
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| "I smell a rat!" Researchers have found that the sense of smelling in mice is affected by a biological clock devoted entirely to olfaction -- smelling stuff, like sleeping and waking, is on a daily cycle. |
Biologists at Washington University in St. Louis have discovered a large biological clock in the smelling center of mice brains and have revealed that the sense of smell for mice is stronger at night, peaking in evening hours and waning during day light hours. A team led by Erik Herzog, Ph.D., Washington University associate professor of Biology in Arts & Sciences, discovered the clock in the olfactory bulb, the brain center that aids the mouse in detecting odors. More...
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Fooling the 'brain's Timex'
Biological clock more influenced by temperature than light
July 10,
2003 --
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| Photo by David Kilper/WUSTL Photo |
| Erik Herzog, Ph.D., and graduate student Rachel Huckfeldt attach electrodes to a multielectrode array. |
Getting over jet lag may be as simple as changing the temperature —your brain temperature, that is. That's a theory proposed by Erik Herzog, Ph.D. assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. Herzog has found that the biological clocks of rats and mice respond directly to temperature changes.
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Scientists study olfaction in mice
United Press International
and 4 others
Dec. 19,
2006 -- WUSTL scientists led by biology professor Erik Herzog say olfaction in mice is affected by a biological clock that makes their sense of smell stronger at night.
The research appeared in the Nov. 22 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.
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