Choogon Lee

Our circadian clock is our body’s way of telling time, and it drives daily oscillations across our physiology and behavior: not only when we sleep and wake, but also our metabolism, digestive function, cardiac function, cognitive and emotional state, and tissue repair. We use mutant and transgenic mouse models along with mathematical models to emulate human sleep and circadian disorders. Our second line of research in the lab is driven by the fact that serious metabolic diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes continue to become more and more prevalent in Western nations due to changes in our dietary habits and lifestyle. While others are trying to tackle this problem through social, psychological, and neurobiological (e.g., modulation of appetite) approaches, we are exploring the possibility of treating these diseases through modulation of cell-intrinsic metabolic pathways such as glycolysis.