Martin Fredensborg Rath
Professor
Molecular Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen
Biografi
Circadian rhythms are endogenous rhythms with a 24-hour period that enable living organisms to synchronize biological functions to the ambient light regime. In the mammalian brain circadian rhythms are regulated by the photoneuroendocrine system consisting of the suprachiasmatic nucleus of hypothalamus, the pineal gland and the retina. In a combined effort involving neuroanatomical and molecular biological techniques, we are studying development and function of the circadian system of the mammalian brain.
Homeobox genes in development and adult function of the mammalian circadian neuroendocrine system. We have shown that homeobox gene-encoded transcription factors in are essential in both development and mature function of the circadian neuroendocrine system with focus on the pinealocyte, the principal melatonin-producing cell-type of the pineal gland.
