Clocks & Rhythms with Michael Hastings & Steven Reppert interviewed by Sydney Gary

Michael Hastings Bachelors degree in Marine Biology (1977) and then PhD in Marine Ecology (1980), both at the... » More

Michael Hastings
Bachelors degree in Marine Biology (1977) and then PhD in Marine Ecology (1980), both at the University of Liverpool, U.K. and based at the Port Erin Marine Biological Station, Isle of Man. Supervised by Professor Ernest Naylor, my thesis examined the behavioural ecology of inter-tidal crustacea (amphipods and isopods) with particular emphasis on their circadian, circa-tidal and circa-semi-lunar rhythms of behaviour, metabolism and reproduction. Post-doctoral work in the Department of Anatomy, University of Cambridge (1981) was supervised by Professor Joe Herbert and examined the sites and mechanisms of action of melatonin in brain and pituitary, focussing on photoperiodic control of reproduction and metabolism in mammals. Appointed to junior faculty as Demonstrator in Anatomy (1984) and full faculty as Lecturer in Anatomy (1988) I pursued studies into the neurochemical basis of photic and non-photic circadian entrainment in mammals. I was appointed Reader in Neuroscience (1998) with a focus on circadian clock genes and proteins in mammals, and I joined the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in 2001 as Programme Leader in Circadian Neurobiology. http://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/NB/Hastings_M/

Steven M. Reppert is the Higgins Family Professor of Neuroscience and Chair of the newly formed Department of Neurobiology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He served as head of the Laboratory of Developmental Chronobiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital for 22 years, before moving to UMass. His past research has pioneered the physiological basis of fetal circadian clocks; elucidated molecular mechanisms of action for the pineal hormone melatonin; revealed fundamental cellular processes important for circadian clock function; and advanced our knowledge of clock genes and their transcriptional and posttranslational regulation. He is currently investigating the cellular and molecular basis of an ancient circadian clock in the monarch butterfly and evaluating the clock’s role in migratory behaviors.
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