How do our cells keep time – or pause it – to shape their physiology? The Aydogan Lab investigates the fundamental principles of biological time control in animal development, metabolism, and disease. They particularly focus on the emerging concept of autonomous clocks – subcellular timing mechanisms that are typically synchronized with major rhythmic programs such as the cell’s division cycle or its circadian clock, but which can also run independently to govern key events in cellular physiology. As such, this exciting opportunity involves working along expert scientists on biological time control, using techniques ranging from cell and molecular biology to bioinformatics, from advanced super-resolution microscopy to machine learning approaches.

Our knowledge of cellular timing has traditionally revolved around the cell cycle, with CDK/Cyclin complexes serving as a master clock for the cell. Recent discoveries from the Aydogan Lab and others challenge this notion, revealing the existence of ‘autonomous clocks’ – timing mechanisms that are typically coupled by CDK/Cyclins to synchronize with nuclear divisions, but can also function autonomously with distinct timekeeping roles in physiology. Despite their emerging significance in cancers and tissue physiology, the fundamental mechanisms and design principles that operate autonomous clocks remain largely elusive. We still do not know the molecular underpinnings of how these clocks can couple with CDK/Cyclins during the cell cycle. Similarly, we have little information about the signaling mechanisms that help leverage their autonomy to act as quality control mechanisms, whether as fail-safe operators when the cell cycle halts erroneously, or as pacemakers when the cell cycle is silenced post-mitosis. Leveraging a wide of variety of techniques and model systems, the Aydogan Lab strives to decode the principles of autonomous clocks and shed light on their relevance in physiology.

Your role will be to assist an on-going project in our lab to help your day-to-day mentor (graduate student, postdoc or staff associate). You are expected to commit at least 10 hours a week with consistent commitment. In turn, you will gain research experience and partake in scholarly endeavors (such as data collection, analysis, interpretation, write up, and potentially even becoming an author on a paper).