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Mapping the Gears That Control Circadian rhythms

What makes someone a “morning lark” or a “night owl?”⁣ why does jet ⁣lag hit us so hard, and why do some people struggle each winter wiht seasonal affective disorder?

Clues to these puzzles may lie in a tiny brain region‍ called the suprachiasmatic nucleus ⁣(SCN),‍ the body’s central circadian ⁢pacemaker.

The SCN contains thousands of neurons that must check in with one another to coordinate their activity and keep ⁢the body aligned to local time, but the network wiring that brings them into sync has remained unclear.

Researchers at Washington University in St.⁣ louis developed a computational tool to reveal these connections in ⁣the mouse SCN. Their findings, published in ⁣the ⁤ Proceedings of the⁣ National ⁤Academy of Sciences show that⁤ not all SCN cells are created equal. Even ⁢though the mouse SCN⁢ has around 20,000 neurons, only a small subset of “hub” cells keep the body synchronized. The tool ⁣could help in advancement of treatments for ⁢shift workers or those impacted by seasonal affective disorder or any health problems that could be improved with some ⁤circadian tinkering.

The MITE ⁤Technique: Unveiling⁢ Functional Communication

Mapping these connections was a‍ massive interdisciplinary⁣ effort led by Professor Erik Herzog and⁣ research scientist KL Nikhil, both ⁣in biology. ‍Together with senior scientist Daniel Granados-Fuentes, electrical engineers Jr-Shin Li and ⁢Bharat Singhal at the McKelvey School of Engineering, and chemist István Kiss of Saint Louis University, the team developed a technique called MITE (Mutual Data and Transfer Entropy, which they pronounce as “mighty”).

“MITE captures cellular connections by studying how signals flow between cells, moving us beyond static anatomical maps to study functional communication in