Steven M. Reppert
Steven M. Reppert is an American neuroscientist whose research has focused on the cellular and molecular basis of circadian rhythms. He is currently the Higgins Family Professor of Neuroscience, and Professor and founding chair of the Department of Neurobiology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Background
Reppert received his MD from the University of Nebraska College of Medicine. He did an internship and residency in Pediatrics at the Massachusetts General Hospital and postdoctoral work in neuroendocrinology at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development with David C. Klein. Reppert was on the faculty at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School from 1979 until 2001, when he moved to the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Research
The research contributions of Reppert and colleagues include defining the field of fetal circadian clocks[1], discovering that the circadian clock mechanism in the mammalian suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the site of the master brain clock, is cell autonomous (i.e., contained within single cells)[2], and cloning and functionally defining a family of melatonin receptors (G-protein coupled receptors for the pineal hormone)[3]. Reppert’s group also defined a molecular mechanism for regulating clock-controlled genes in mammals[4], discovered the function of cryptochromes within the mammalian circadian clock[5], and defined interlocking transcriptional feedback loops in the mouse SCN[6].
Since 2002, Reppert and co-workers have pioneered study of the biological basis of monarch butterfly migration. They have focused on a novel circadian clock mechanism and its role in time-compensated sun compass orientation, a major navigational strategy the butterflies use during their fall migration[7][8]. His laboratory also provided the first genetic evidence that animal cryptochromes can function as light-dependent magnetoreceptors[9], which may be important for long-distance migration.
References
- ^ Reppert SM, Schwartz WJ (1983). "Maternal coordination of the fetal biological clock in utero". Science. 220 (4600): 969–71. PMID 6844923.
- ^ Welsh DK, Logothetis DE, Meister M, Reppert SM (1995). "Individual neurons dissociated from rat suprachiasmatic nucleus express independently phased circadian firing rhythms". Neuron. 14 (4): 697–706. PMID 771823.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Reppert SM, Weaver DR, Godson C (1996). "Melatonin receptors step into the light: cloning and classification of subtypes". Trends Pharmacol Sci. 17 (3): 100–2. PMID 8936344.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Jin X, Shearman LP, Weaver DR, Zylka MJ, de Vries GJ, Reppert SM (1999). "A molecular mechanism regulating rhythmic output from the suprachiasmatic circadian clock". Cell. 96 (1): 57–68. PMID 9989497.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Kume K, Zylka MJ, Sriram S, Shearman LP, Weaver DR, Jin X; et al. (1999). "mCRY1 and mCRY2 are essential components of the negative limb of the circadian clock feedback loop". Cell. 98 (2): 193–205. PMID 10428031.
{{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in:|author=(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Shearman LP, Sriram S, Weaver DR, Maywood ES, Chaves I, Zheng B; et al. (2000). "Interacting molecular loops in the mammalian circadian clock". Science. 288 (5468): 1013–9. PMID 10807566.
{{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in:|author=(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Reppert SM (2006). "A colorful model of the circadian clock". Cell. 124 (2): 233–6. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2006.01.009. PMID 16439193.
- ^ Merlin C, Gegear RJ, Reppert SM (2009). "Antennal circadian clocks coordinate sun compass orientation in migratory monarch butterflies". Science. 325 (5948): 1700–4. doi:10.1126/science.1176221. PMC 2754321. PMID 19779201.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: PMC format (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Gegear RJ, Casselman A, Waddell S, Reppert SM (2008). "Cryptochrome mediates light-dependent magnetosensitivity in Drosophila". Nature. 454 (7207): 1014–8. doi:10.1038/nature07183. PMC 2559964. PMID 18641630.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: PMC format (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)