Circadian Rhythms and Biological Clocks Part A

Dr. Sehgal is the John Herr Musser Professor of Neuroscience and Director of a Program in Chronobiology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. She has also been an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 1997. Dr. Sehgal received her Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Cornell University, working with Dr. Moses Chao, and conducted her postdoctoral work with Dr. Michael Young at Rockefeller University. A major focus in her laboratory is the cellular and molecular basis of circadian rhythms, using the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster as a model system. Her laboratory also developed a Drosophila model for the study of sleep, which has been adopted by laboratories worldwide, and is rapidly provding insight into the regulation and function of sleep. In 2009, Dr. Sehgal was elected to the Institute of Medicine and in 2011 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.