Icon for: Kuntol Rakshit

KUNTOL RAKSHIT

Oregon State University
Years in Grad School: 4
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Judges’ Queries and Presenter’s Replies
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Presentation Discussion
  • Icon for: Annie Aigster

    Annie Aigster

    Project Coordinator
    May 23, 2012 | 10:03 a.m.

    I enjoyed your presentation. I’m wondering about the sleep cycles of flies compared to humans. Are they similar?

  • Icon for: Kuntol Rakshit

    Kuntol Rakshit

    Lead Presenter
    May 23, 2012 | 11:34 a.m.

    Hello Anne,
    Thanks for your interest! Flies have very well defined rhythms in sleep and activity and this is very similar to humans. This is the primary reason that makes flies a good model to study biological clocks.
    Regards, Kuntol

  • Icon for: Carolyn Aldwin

    Carolyn Aldwin

    Faculty: Project Co-PI
    May 23, 2012 | 12:04 p.m.

    Great job, Kuntol! Now is there anything you can do with this model to increase longevity?

  • Icon for: Kuntol Rakshit

    Kuntol Rakshit

    Lead Presenter
    May 23, 2012 | 12:51 p.m.

    Hello Carolyn,
    Thank you! We are currently trying genetic and other therapeutic approaches as an attempt to rejuvenate the dampened circadian oscillations during aging. We want to investigate if stronger clock oscillations could lead to longer lifespan, better healthspan (fitness parameters) and reduced neurodegeneration.
    Best regards, Kuntol

  • Icon for: Jeffrey Proulx

    Jeffrey Proulx

    Graduate Student
    May 24, 2012 | 09:25 a.m.

    Very nice job Kuntol. I wonder if you can get the flies to meditate.

  • Icon for: Kuntol Rakshit

    Kuntol Rakshit

    Lead Presenter
    May 24, 2012 | 10:51 a.m.

    Thanks Jeff! We have never tried getting the flies to meditate. Not sure if we could do that! But, we can definitely adjust their sleeping patterns to various light:dark regimes. Best, Kuntol

  • Icon for: Margery Hines

    Margery Hines

    Graduate Student
    May 24, 2012 | 08:06 p.m.

    Great job! I enjoyed your video and this is a very interesting topic. Have you considered the health impacts to people with a chronic circadian rhythm sleep disorder, such as non-24 hour syndrome? If not, do you think people with these types of disorders are in danger of health problems due to having an inaccurate internal body clock or due to constantly trying to alter their sleep schedules to agree with a typical 24 hour day? I realize this is probably slightly-off topic but I thought it would be interesting to see your opinion.

  • Icon for: Kuntol Rakshit

    Kuntol Rakshit

    Lead Presenter
    May 25, 2012 | 03:02 p.m.

    Thank you for your kind words Margery! Indeed multiple studies in humans and rodent models with chronic circadian disorders are prone to cancer, premature aging, and a variety of other pathological diseases. This includes shift-workers, pilots, nurses etc who have their clocks dysregulated due to their work environment. However such findings are of correlative nature and therefore we want to investigate the underlying mechanisms. Regards, Kuntol

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