Ravi
Allada, MD
Assistant Professor
Department of Neurobiology and Physiology
To Contact Dr. Allada:
phone: (847) 491-2809
e-mail: r-allada@northwestern.edu
Dr. Allada's website
PubMed
Reference Lookup
Research Interests
The laboratory of Dr. Ravi Allada is interested in the molecular mechanisms
underlying circadian rhythms and their links to various clinical disorders,
such as insomnia, depression and even cancer. The origins of molecular understanding
of human circadian rhythms can be traced to genetic studies in the fruit fly,
Drosophila melanogaster. Since the cloning of the first clock gene period
in Drosophila in the1980s, the cloning of new fly rhythm genes has led to
the discovery of their mammalian counterparts, reflecting their remarkable
evolutionary conservation. Indeed, a mutation in a human homolog of Drosophila
period is responsible for an inherited sleep disorder, advanced sleep phase
syndrome (ASPS). Across evolutionary boundaries, transcriptional feedback
loops form the core of circadian pacemakers. Dr. Allada believes the most
efficient strategy to identify new components of human circadian feedback
loops is through a molecular genetic approach in Drosophila. The wealth of
genetic tools and short generation time (~10 days) facilitate high throughput
phenotype-driven screens that will be required to decipher the functional
significance of the human genome. Current efforts in his laboratory are focused
on cloning a novel circadian rhythm mutant as well as the identification of
molecular and cellular links between central pacemakers and output genes and
behaviors.
The most prominent circadian behavior is the sleep-wake cycle. Sleep itself
is as important as food; animals deprived of sleep live approximately as long
(2-3 weeks) as they live without food. Approximately 60 million Americans
experience suboptimal sleep, leading to loss in productivity, health and even
fatal accidents. Although not for lack of effort, traditional neuroscience
approaches have been unable to provide a compelling explanation for the need
to sleep. The behavioral state of sleep is principally defined by circadian
control, homeostatic regulation and characteristic drug responses. Astonishingly,
fruit flies exhibit inactive states with all of these cardinal features. Flies
are active in the day and inactive at night. Deprived of sleep, flies will
compensate with extra rest. Fly sleep will even be perturbed by caffeine.
It is hypothesized that the accumulation of specific molecules during wakefulness
promotes the restorative process of sleep. To identify these molecules, the
laboratory of Ravi Allada is screening for mutants that alter the quantity,
quality, or pharmacology of sleep in flies.