CBE Distinguished Lecture in Honor of Professor Herbert Morawetz: "How Bacteria Tell Time"

CBE Distinguished Lecture Series in Honor of Professor Herbert Morawetz

How Bacteria Tell Time

Susan S. Golden
Distinguished Professor of Molecular Biology
Director, Center for Chronobiology
University of California, San Diego

Friday, November 9, 2012
LC 400
10:45am – 12noon
Refreshments at 10:30am

Abstract

Cells of diverse organisms, from cyanobacteria to humans, use a circadian (24 hour) clock to control physiological events and gene expression. The overall goal of Prof. Golden’s research is to understand the biochemical events that allow a cell to keep track of time, execute activities according to a temporal program, and synchronize the internal clock with the external solar cycle, using the cyanobacterium S. elongatus as a model. The organism is amenable to genetic manipulation and its circadian rhythms of gene expression can be visualized through luminescent reporter genes. 

Bio

Prof. Golden was among the first to develop genetic tools for cyanobacteria, which enabled the identification in the early 1990s, in collaboration with T. Kondo, M. Ishiura, and C.H. Johnson, of components of the circadian clock mechanism in cyanobacteria. She is a member of the Faculty of 1000 Biology, a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, and a Member of the National Academy of Sciences.