早期發育中生物鐘的出現

The importance of circadian clock emergence and its coupling with the cell division has not been explored so far, although neurodevelopmental impairment has been long known in preterm infants. The preterm infants show relatively unstable circadian rhythms in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), where environmental disturbance may interfere with the infants’ intrinsic rhythms. By tracking the emergence of circadian clocks throughout the embryonic development, we can identify the brain's originator of the circadian clock driving, which can coordinate neurodevelopment by coupling with developmental factors. Our research program has a potential to open up new treatment avenues by clarifying molecular mechanism for kick-starting endogenous circadian oscillations in early development, and by uncovering a circadian developmental factor relevant to neurodevelopment.