Chronobiology
We aim to understand how the circadian clock works as a temporal program in the whole organism and in interaction with other organisms and clocks. For the different questions at the cellular level, we use different simple model systems and organisms.
The marine unicellular alga Gonyaulax polyedra is used for understanding the cellular and ecological aspects of the circadian program.
The filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa is our model for understanding the link between molecules biochemistry, physiology and behaviour.
For the questions at the systemic level, we primarily investigate the human circadian clock. We ask questions about the daily changes in sensory perception, about the circadian complications during shift work, or how different chronotypes are distributed in the population.