Meet the Principal Investigator
Shin Yamazaki, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Since I began studying the biological rhythms of insects during graduate school, I have been fascinated with the accuracy of the circadian timing system and the phenomenal influence of the circadian clock on almost all biological activities. This fascination has fueled my interest in learning about circadian rhythms for more than a quarter of a century.
During this time, I have witnessed milestone discoveries in the field including:
- The identification of the pacemaker cells that control behavior and physiology
- Finding that single cells are capable of generating the circadian rhythm in multi-cellular organisms
- The identification of circadian mutants and cloning of genes involved in the timekeeping mechanism
- The function of negative and positive transcription-translation feedback loops
Our contributions to the field include discovering clocks in peripheral tissues in rodents.
The Yamazaki Lab is affiliated with the Department of Neuroscience and the Neuroscience Imaging Laboratory.
Current Lab Members
Lab Alumni
Former postdocs
- Mijung Yeom (2007-2009)–currently Professor at Kyung Hee University, South Korea
- Julie S. Pendergast (2007-2012)–currently an Associate Professor at the University of Kentucky
- David Ehichioya (2021-2025)
Research Assistants
- Monica Clouse (2006-2007)
- Crystal Bettilyon (2013-2016)–currently a Laboratory Operations Specialist, LCCB-Longwood Screening Facility, Harvard Medical School
- Alexandra Brown (2016-2021)–currently Clinical Success Manager, MiCare Path
Visiting Graduate Students
- Judong Lee (2005)
- Nelly Abdel Ghany Abu Alkheir (2014)
- Nicola Ludin (2014)
- Danilo De Franca Lurindo Flores (2014-2015)
Undergraduates
- Wendi Bond (2003)
- Jalin Liu (2004)
- Julie C Wang (2004)
- Derrick Choi (2004-2005)
- R Anjali Kumbla (2005-2007)
- Bryan A Reyes (2005 –2007)
- Amy C-R Ly (2005 – 2006)
- Swati Midha (2006)
- Alexandra Belenky (2006-2007)
- Meredith L Barbour (2007– 2008)
- Rio C Friday (2007-2009)
- Ester Lee (2007-2008)
- Charles D Keil (2008)
- E Jean Pak (2008)
- Cathya Olivas (2009
- Natalie Deanna Thoni (2009-2010)
- Katrina L Branecky (2012-2013)
- Averey Eischeid (2023)
Summer Research high school students
- Roya Huang (2012) currently postdoc at UC Berkeley
- William Yang (2012)
- Lori Jia (2014 and 2015) currently Orthopaedic Surgery Resident at Cleveland Clinic
- Ashley Watson (2015) currently Associate Attorney at Griffith Barbee PLLC
- Chethan Reddy (2018)
- Srinidhi Mahadevan (2022) currently undergraduate at UT Austin
- Ishrat Masud (2023) currently undergraduate at UT Austin
- Khaviya Balaji (2023) currently undergraduate at UT Austin
- Alexis Fan (2024) currently undergraduate at Tufts University
- Elise Crumpton (2025)