Life in Time: UCSD’s New Center for Chronobiology Studies Rhythms of Existence

Paul K. Mueller | November 16, 2009

UC San Diego is among the nation’s leaders for encouraging and supporting interdisciplinary research. The university’s Organized Research Units (ORUs) demonstrate both the necessity for, and the wisdom of, bringing together experts from an array of fields to study complex processes, create new forms of expression, and solve daunting problems.

One of the newest ORUs, the Center for Chronobiology (CCB), serves as an excellent example of that successful blending of knowledge and perspectives across disciplines, and it has an ambitious goal: to establish UCSD as the premier international center of chronobiology research.

Vice Chancellor for Research Art Ellis, whose office oversees the ORUs, says that the CCB typifies the new research units that UC San Diego is advancing. “We’re doing work at the frontiers of scholarship,” he said, “and collaboration across disciplines strengthens that spirit of pioneering and innovation.”

The list of scientific and academic specialties represented in the CCB shows just how intertwined most modern research has become: psychology, biology, physics, psychiatry, pharmacy, bioengineering, philosophy and reproductive medicine – with sub-specialties within each of those fields.

“Our intention is to bring together diverse researchers working on biological timing from different perspectives,” said the faculty advocates in their proposal to establish the center, “so as to create an intellectual framework for such studies, to foster new and deeper collaborations, and to share methodologies. The very nature of studies on biological clocks, from single cells to human behavior, indicates that our multidisciplinary approach is a natural fit.”

One of those advocates and now co-director of the CCB, Stuart Brody, professor of biology, explains some of the basic concepts behind the complicated science. “Because life evolved on a rotating earth, itself revolving around the sun, biological systems – from the simplest cells onwards – have had to contend with conditions that markedly changed both daily and seasonally. Whereas most biological research has stressed constancy and homeostasis, chronobiology – the study of biological rhythmicity –has at its core a view of biology as inherently cyclical and interactive.”

Co-director Susan Golden, professor of biology, elaborates:  “Rhythmicity is ubiquitous and central to the organization of life. Chronobiology is of particular applied significance since modern society demands that people perform outside of their evolved temporal niche. Artificial lighting, shift-work, and trans-meridian jet travel all represent chronobiological novelties that affect the health and safety of millions.”

Brody, Golden, and their colleagues will focus on four research “clusters:”

• Molecular clock mechanisms and gene-protein networks – employing genetic techniques as a way of dissecting complex biological phenomena.
• Oscillator networks – studying the “master mammalian circadian pacemaker” found in nuclei of the hypothalamus.
• Metabolism and physiology – discovering the relationship between circadian rhythmicity and physiological organization in multi-cellular organisms.
• Sleep and behavior – understanding the relationship between daily rhythmicity and higher-order mental and cognitive functions.

They fully expect, however, that the center “will evolve in novel directions,” and that CCB researchers will make connections outside of these formal clusters.

Among those who have joined the CCB is Steve Kay, dean of the Division of Biological Sciences, noted for his work on circadian rhythms in both plants and animals. He shares the ambitious goals of Brody and Golden. “We want UCSD to become synonymous with chronobiology,” he said, “and our graduate students and postdoctoral scholars to excel in cross-disciplinary approaches that represent the future of scientific research. And, because this work has broad societal interest, we will produce and distribute a wealth of materials for education and scientific advocacy.”

The members of the new ORU clearly understand that informing their peers and educating the public are vital to the long-term success of the center. Accordingly, they will work through their departments to implement a new graduate course in chronobiology; start a new journal club (to complement the existing Mammalian Chronobiology Journal Club); organize a yearly lecture series; and maintain an active website for both internal and external audiences (http://chronobiology.ucsd.edu).  The CCB recently co-sponsored its first symposium, a discussion of circadian rhythms held at the Salk Institute.

Chronobiology, says Brody, has been associated with La Jolla even before there was a UCSD. He cites two Scripps Institution of Oceanography scientists, B. Sweeney and W. Hastings, who studied the marine organisms responsible for luminescent waves in the 1950s, and mentions both Bob Moore, a member of the School of Medicine, and Warren Butler, a biologist, both of whom explored, in different ways, the rhythms of life. Brody himself organized and hosted a National Science Foundation conference in 1976 that drew scientists from around the globe.

With a solid foundation in the university’s past, a strong presence in the interdisciplinary present, and the promise of collaborative achievements in the future, the chronobiologists of the CCB are clearly rising in the tidal rhythms of science.