ABSTRACT

The 24-h (circadian) timing system develops during the perinatal period and rules our physiology later in life. It has the essential task of anticipating daily recurring changes in the environment (day/night) to find the best time for each molecular and cellular process. It is organised hierarchically, with a master pacemaker in the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), which is able to perceive environmental light and tell the body what time is it. StarTicking proposes to answer a long-standing question in the field: When and how the circadian clock starts ticking with a multidisciplinary and integrated approach focused on the development of the central pacemaker in mice and human.