Rebekah George

Title: Rhodopsins in circadian temperature entrainment in Drosophila

Host Institution: Muenster University
Supervisor: Prof Ralf Stanewsky
Contact: TBA
Start date: TBA
Secondment: CNRS Gif-sur-Yvette for 2 months to learn parallel approaches to studying rhodopsins as photoreceptors. University of Leicester for two months to test rhodopsin mutants under natural temperature regimes.

Objectives: To discover whether rhodopsins are involved in sensing temperature cues for circadian clock synchronisation to environmental cycles. We shall use a sophisticated neurogenetic approach allied to gene expression studies to answer this question.

About me: I come from Klang – a city outside Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur. My interest has been to understand how genetic variations influence vulnerability to disease. For my undergraduate research, I defined a link between genetic variations and primary headaches. I’ve also spent seven months in a neuroscience department during my masters in Leicester to characterize expression profiles of serotonin receptors with close regard to prenatal stress, cortical development & neuropsychiatric disorders. I enjoyed the focus and am still fascinated by how mechanisms at the molecular level impact human well-being. My interest then evolved to take on a different approach to understanding the dynamics of human health, while staying within the field of neurobiology. This attracted me to the CINCHRON Network’s endeavours.

An important goal of my project in Dr Stanewsky’s lab is to link light-sensitive receptors to temperature entrainment. Temperature input is a strong contender when considering the consequences of climate-driven changes to insect behaviour and I hope my work will contribute useful insights with potential to be part of a bigger picture solution. I am looking forward to growing as a researcher, contributing to scientific literature and working as part of a wider research network.

Away from the bench, I enjoy trying out new recipes, spending quiet time with a good book, or fighting off writer’s block to submit articles for an English magazine.