How do our cells keep time – or pause it – to shape their physiology? Mustafa Aydogan investigates the fundamental principles of biological time control in animal development, metabolism, and disease. His laboratory particularly focuses 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. His team also studies how biological time can be suspended, uncovering the molecular circuits and metabolic programs that underlie quiescence, senescence, and dormancy.