The long-term goals of the Takahashi Laboratory are to understand the molecular and genetic basis of circadian rhythms in mammals and to utilize forward genetic approaches in the mouse as a tool for gene discovery for complex behavior. We have focused our attention in five areas:
- Identification of circadian clock genes and assignment of their function in the molecular mechanism of the circadian pacemaker;
- Analysis of central and peripheral circadian oscillators using real-time circadian reporters;
- Single-cell analysis of circadian oscillations using bioluminescence imaging methods;
- In vivo analysis of circadian clock components using tissue-specific and conditional expression of circadian genes in mice; and
- Identification of genes defined by mutations isolated in the large-scale mutagenesis screens we have conducted on neural and behavioral phenotypes.