The Millar research group
www.amillar.org;  ECB wiki

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Biological Clocks

Plants, fungi, animals and some bacteria have internal, 24-hour clocks. These "circadian" clocks affect our lives in many ways, through industry, agriculture and human health.

Web tutorials on biological clocks: try these first, if circadian clocks are new to you.

Our research aims to understand how the circadian clock is constructed and adjusted, how it affects plant life and why the clock mechanisms are so complex. Most of our research focuses on Arabidopsis, which is a small plant with a big following. Molecular genetics and transgenic plants help us by revealing rhythms that are usually invisible: we use a reporter gene called luciferase to send us video footage when other genes are active, like the 24-hour loop at the top of this page. Mathematical modelling helps us to understand the complex data and to identify the principles behind the molecular detail. The circadian clock is an excellent system to develop new methods in this area, so studying plant clocks is one of CSBE's first projects. We are also constructing simpler clocks to test these principles using Synthetic Biology.

The links on this page lead to more details on each topic. Link to 700-word outline of our research projects, with results of a sample experiment.

Andrew Millar holds a Chair of Systems Biology at the University of Edinburgh, where he directs the Centre for Systems Biology at Edinburgh (CSBE). He has also been involved in the Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance (SULSA) and GARNet, the UK's Arabidopsis research network. 

Details and links:

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