Indiana University biologist Maria P. Fernandez has been awarded a five-year Maximizing Investigators Research Award (MIRA) grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to study how circadian clock neuron networks develop and form functional connections.
Circadian clocks allow organisms to maintain internal temporal order and anticipate daily environmental changes through a highly conserved mechanism of cyclic gene expression. Research supported by the MIRA award will examine how circadian clock neurons develop and the mechanisms by which they establish connections with one another and with downstream neural circuits to regulate metabolism, physiology, and behavior.
Research in the Fernandez Lab focuses on how the brain generates behavior, ranging from relatively simple processes such as sleep-wake cycles to complex, experience‑dependent behaviors like aggression. The lab includes undergraduate students; graduate students Suryatapa Chatterjee, Sugata Ghosh, and Irin Mariyam Joseph; research technician Shannon Smoot; and postdoctoral fellow Dr. Aishwarya Iyer.
“This award reflects the contributions of both past and present members of my lab, and I am grateful to work alongside such a talented team of researchers,” Fernandez said.
Using a combination of neurogenetics, behavioral analysis, and imaging techniques, the team investigates fundamental mechanisms of brain function in the genetically tractable model organism Drosophila melanogaster. IU Bloomington provides an exceptional research environment for this work. The campus is home to the Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center – the world’s largest repository of Drosophila lines, Flybase – the primary genetic and genomics database for Drosophila research, and the Drosophila Genomics Resource Center (DGRC), as well as essential shared facilities, including confocal microscopy, and the Center for Genomics and Bioinformatics.
Proper function of the circadian clock is essential for maintaining physiological homeostasis and overall health. Disruptions to circadian rhythms, resulting from factors such as shift work, irregular sleep schedules, aging, or disease, have been linked to a wide range of adverse health outcomes, including sleep disorders, metabolic and cardiovascular disease, mood disorders, and neurological dysfunction. By elucidating how circadian clock neurons develop and assemble into functional neural circuits, this research will advance understanding of the biological basis of circadian regulation and how its disruption contributes to disease.
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