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Laboratory of Andrew C. Liu, Ph.D.

Research interest:  Circadian rhythms and sleep in mammals

Principal Investigator: Andrew Chuanyin Liu, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Physiology & Aging, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, Florida

The major focus of my lab is to study the molecular, cellular, and physiological mechanisms of circadian (~24) clocks in mammals. We ask i) how circadian oscillation is generated in a cell (cell-autonomous) and the central clock in the brain (within a neural network), and ii) how the molecular clock is integrated with (i.e. regulates and is regulated by) local cell physiology. We use mice and cultured mammalian cells as model systems and employ highly integrated approaches in our research. Virtually every single cell in our body is a clock and each cell, organ, and organism can be studied as a system, and accordingly, we study the clock at the cell, tissue, organ, and organism levels. As opposed to traditional methods, we use kinetic (not just steady-state snapshots) and longitudinal methods (multiple days/cycles) to measure the temporal dynamics of molecular, cellular, and physiological processes. Time of day matters…