Speaker: Dae-Sung Hwangbo, assistant professor at the University of Louisville

Title: "Circadian clocks, sleep, and aging on the fly" 

Abstract: Utilizing the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) as a model organism, my lab aims to understand how environmental factors (such as diet, light, and temperature) regulate physiology (including circadian rhythms and metabolism) and behavior (such as sleep and feeding), and eventually impact health and aging.

This seminar will provide an overview of our lab’s research program, focusing on how the circadian clocks in the periphery interact with dietary restriction (DR) to regulate lifespan. DR, the reduction of food intake without causing malnutrition, is known as one of the most robust ways to promote health and lifespan. We have found that the core clock transcription factor, CLOCK, plays a critical role in lifespan extension by DR. A time-series RNA-Seq analysis of samples from abdominal fat bodies, followed by a functional RNAi-mediated lifespan screen, identified the proteasome as a main output target of the clock in the fat body that regulates lifespan. We propose that DR reprograms the rhythmic transcription of clock output genes, such as the proteasome genes, to extend lifespan.

Host: Hua Bai, genetics, development and cell biology associate professor