Michael Rosbash is interested in the RNA processing, genes, and mechanisms that underlie circadian rhythms – the 24-hour pacemaker that is nearly ubiquitous among higher organisms. Using Drosophila as a model system, Rosbash and his team study the mechanisms and importance of neuronal circuitry and plasticity to circadian rhythms, as well as the contributions of transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulation. They also study how circadian clocks function within the brain to influence sleep and the enigmatic process of temperature compensation.
The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute announced today that Michael Rosbash, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator at Brandeis University, Jeffrey C. Hall of Brandeis University and Michael W. Young of the Rockefeller University are the recipients of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm. HHMI researchers Thomas M. Jessell and Michael Rosbash honored for significant contributions to medical science. New research has revealed what keeps animals' internal clocks running on time through the long nights of winter and the long days of summer.