Serge Daan

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Serge Daan (born June 11, 1940 in Mook ; † February 9, 2018 ) was a Dutch chronobiologist .

Life

Serge Daan was born in a windmill in Mook, the Netherlands , and grew up in a rural area. After attending a science high school in Deventer , he studied biology in Amsterdam . His parents aroused his interest in biology at an early age and explored the ecology of reptiles in the Mediterranean region with the whole family . The almost complete reference work of their results was only not published because another author published shortly before completion.
Serge Daan was married and had four children.

Academic career

Daan graduated with achieving the doctoral degree (cum laude) at the University of Amsterdam on hibernation . This work brought him into contact with questions about the 'timing of behavior' that have preoccupied him throughout his research career. Daan spent four years as a postdoc with the two founders of modern chronobiology Jürgen Aschoff and Colin Pittendrigh . His time at the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Physiology in Andechs ( Bavaria ) and at Stanford University in California , and the resulting lifelong collaboration and friendship with the two mentors, were decisive for his scientific career.

1975 Daan was appointed extraordinary professor (associate professor) at the University of Groningen appointed in the Department of Animal Ecology. In 1994 he was given a personal chair in chronobiology, and in 1996 he was promoted to full professor of ethology . Since 2003 he has held the renowned Niko Tinbergen Chair for Behavioral Biology.

research

Main building of the University of Groningen

Daan's research focused on the temporal organization of behavior in animals and humans. In approximately 250 scientific publications (with more than 10,000 citations ) he contributed to a number of key concepts and models for understanding life history , biological timing, and periodicity. This applies to ' circadian ' (approx. 24-hour) rhythms of resting phases and activity, the regulation of human sleep and the timing of reproduction.

Circadian rhythm

A large number of the publications deal with the daily organization of behavior. Pittendrigh and Daan wrote five key publications in 1976 that clarified the concept and that still have an impact on the field of chronobiology. In the publications that followed, the focus shifted more and more from the black box model to testable hypotheses in the underlying molecular mechanisms.

Regulation of human sleep

The work on circadian rhythms led to the realization that a single circadian pacemaker must exist that synchronizes an organism with the external time and at the same time controls downstream oscillations physiology and behavior. This thought was incompatible with observations of the temporal organization of sleep in people who lived in isolation and without any indication of time. Daan worked with Borbély and D. Beersma to develop a model that convincingly explains the observations. The two- process model of sleep regulation (1984) demonstrates how a circadian pacemaker can carefully take control of other oscillating processes. This publication still has an impact on sleep research worldwide.

Seasonal timing of reproduction

In addition to the daily patterns and external circumstances, there are other substantial changes over the course of a year. Animals have to deal with these changes and have to weigh the number and even the sex of their offspring in the context of the situation against expectations for the future. Daan deals with this issue in his publication The Wise parents ( The Prudent Parent , (1980)) together with RH Drent.

Lectures

Serge Daan was a frequent keynote speaker at conferences and meetings. He has also given numerous lectures worldwide, such as the Laurence Irving-Per Scholander Memorial Lecture at the University of Alaska (1990), the Niko Tinbergen Lecture (London, 1996), and the First Colin S. Pittendrigh Lecture (Florida, 1998). Daan obtained many scholarships from different sources and thus enabled not only his own work, but also that of many international doctoral students and countless students.

Organizations

A selection

  • Member of the board of Earth and Life Sciences of NWO - the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (1997-2002)
  • Chairman of the NWO program Evolution and Behavior (2002–2009)
  • President of the Dutch Society for Behavioral Biology (1996-2001)
  • Vice-dean (2001-2004) for research at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences of the University of Groningen (jointly responsible for the Rosalind Franklin fellowships for women)
  • Dean of this Faculty (2007-2009)

Teaching

In addition to general lectures on a wide variety of topics in biology, including ecology , zoology , human ethology , chronobiology , evolution and an 'Honors College' for highly qualified students, he accompanied more than 200 graduate students in their research projects. Daan initiated and coordinated a program for talented students, the 'Top-master program in Behavioral and Cognitive Neurosciences' at the University of Groningen.

Agama Stellio Daani

A subspecies of the hardun , a Greek lizard , Agama stellio daani is from A. Beutler, E. Frør, Mitt. Zool. Ges. Braunau 3: 255-290 (1980) named after Daan. This subspecies differs from the nominate subspecies ( A. stellio stellio ) by a black-gray head instead of a yellowish-red one. This difference was observed by Daan during his time in the Mediterranean in 1967 and mentioned in a publication.

Honors and prizes

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Roelof Hut: In Memoriam - Professor Serge Daan (1940-2018). University of Groningen, February 12, 2018, accessed on February 13, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Agama Stellio Daani - www.biologiezentrum.at (PDF; 5.7 MB)
personal data
SURNAME Daan, Serge
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch chronobiologist
DATE OF BIRTH June 11, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Mook
DATE OF DEATH February 9, 2018