Satchin Panda, a professor in the Regulatory Biology Laboratory, is interested in understanding the molecular mechanism of the biological clock in a mouse model system. The biological clock or circadian oscillator in most organisms coordinates behavior and physiology with the natural light-dark cycle. His laboratory uses genetic, genomics and biochemical approaches to identify genes under circadian regulation in different organs and to understand the mechanism of such regulation. His lab also tries to characterize the mechanism by which the circadian oscillator is synchronized to the natural light-dark condition. Both classical rod/cone photoreceptors and a newly identified ocular photopigment melanopsin participate in photoentrainment of the clock. Research in his lab is geared towards identifying molecular components and events critical for transmitting light information from the eye to the master oscillator in the brain.

I joined Dr. Panda’s lab in 2005 as a research assistant. Since then I’ve worked with Xenopus laevis, Drosophila melanogaster and Mus musculus to help elucidate how the circadian clock works and what it affects. When I’m not in the lab, I’m usually taking photos or eating, or combining both and taking photos of the food I eat.

I received my PhD in immunology in 2010 from the University of Science of Luminy in Marseille, France. I joined the Panda lab as a postdoc because of my interest in the temporal circadian regulation of physiological processes. Aside from the lab, I used to be a ski addict, now I am surf trainee.

I joined the Panda lab about 3 years ago after I graduated from the University of Lyon in France. I’m interested in non—visual photoreception which includes entrainment of circadian rhythms, pupil constriction, modulation of mood, alertness and cognitive processes and is mainly regulated by a recently discovered photopigment, melanopsin. Outside the lab I enjoy cooking, traveling and boxing.