
2017 Nobel Prize in Medicine for the molecular mechanisms of circadian rhythm - sohkamyung
https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2017/press.html
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nosh
It's really exciting that this work is being recognized with a Nobel Prize.
The company I'm working with (HealthRhythms -
[https://healthrhythms.com](https://healthrhythms.com)) is building products
for understanding circadian rhythms and other behavioral patterns as they
relate to mental health. There is an interesting body of research that
suggests that understanding behavioral patterns and rhythms can help diagnose
mental health conditions. And conversely, working with patients to correct and
regularize their rhythms can be helpful in treatment. Here is a paper by one
of our founders related to rhythm-based therapies in bipolar disorder:

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3202498/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3202498/)

As a company, we are using data from mobile phones (GPS, accelerometer, etc)
to build rhythm profiles based on individuals' sleep, activity, movement, and
phone use patterns. These profiles are then used to build personalized
treatment programs to help people correct their rhythms. If you are interested
in working on any of these, please do drop us a line (jobs@healthrhythms.com).
We are looking for iOS developers and backend (Swift/Objective-C) developers
(AWS and Python). I also posted in the Who's hiring thread so you can look
there for more details

~~~
rublev
Aren't you basically foursquare but for health? Just taking a bunch of data,
repackaging and reselling it to the health industry. I went to your site and I
don't see anything besides "we take a bunch of data and apply machine
learning" and other fluffy writing. It reads like snake oil.

"We take a bunch of random data and somehow do some ML stuff and something
something mental health... here's some pictures of a old people!"

Maybe I'm too dumb or don't understand what you're doing but this was my first
impression.

~~~
tnzn
My thoughts exactly. The data isn't totally random but it's most likely very
lacking in many ways. Yet another example of how perfectly correct math will
most probably lead to wrong results due to false premise

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BDGC
For those interested in learning more about circadian rhythms, I highly
recommend checking out the materials that UCSD's BioClock Studio has put out.
As you might be noticing, there's a dearth of accessible circadian biology
materials. The BioClock Studio has interested undergrads create movies and
media addressing critical circadian biology concepts, experiments, and
researchers.

[https://ccb.ucsd.edu/the-bioclock-studio/about-bioclock-
stud...](https://ccb.ucsd.edu/the-bioclock-studio/about-bioclock-
studio/index.html)

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a_bonobo
If you want a great book on the history of Drosophila research including
circadian clocks and the genetics of memory, get Jonathan Weiner's "Time,
Love, Memory"

All three Nobel Prize recipients appear often.

~~~
leemailll
Seymour Benzer is an amazing scientist, and using of drosophila for
neuroscience questions basically stated from his lab. And that book is a
wonderful read

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klogw
Can someone explain what is the feedback mechanism to self-correct the clock?
This biological clock like any other clock will deviate from the true time
after a while, maybe weeks or months; so what is the self-correcting mechanism
in the biological clock?

~~~
dumbmatter
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suprachiasmatic_nucleus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suprachiasmatic_nucleus)

 _The SCN receives input from specialized photosensitive ganglion cells in the
retina via the retinohypothalamic tract. Neurons in the ventrolateral SCN
(vlSCN) have the ability for light-induced gene expression. Melanopsin-
containing ganglion cells in the retina have a direct connection to the
ventrolateral SCN via the retinohypothalamic tract. When the retina receives
light, the vlSCN relays this information throughout the SCN allowing
entrainment, synchronization, of the person 's or animal's daily rhythms to
the 24-hour cycle in nature._

~~~
GraffitiTim
And importantly, the photosensitive ganglion cells are most sensitive to blue
wavelengths of light, which is why a lot of people recommend avoiding blue
light at night.

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danharaj
Ooh, I read about this in a neuroscience text book I've been nibbling at for a
few months now. Really cool to see a Nobel prize for something I've just
recently studied.

Isn't it cool how gene systems are hybrid digital/analog computers?

~~~
dekhn
>Isn't it cool how gene systems are hybrid digital/analog >computers?

I think it's more correct to say that computation is an emergent property of
living systems, but is by no means the only thing they are capable of.

~~~
xyzzy_plugh
This is a perspective I wish was echoed in University halls.

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e12e
Interesting work, but the explanation seems a little at odds with research in
artic mammals:

[https://www.wired.com/2010/03/arctic-reindeer-circadian-
cloc...](https://www.wired.com/2010/03/arctic-reindeer-circadian-clock/)

Or at least, it appears there's even more complexity around this than the
mechanism sketched out in the summary.

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mixologic
As somebody who is currently 9 timezones away from home and just barely
beginning to be normal (going back home tomorrow, of course) I was kind of
hoping that they would have some sort of procedure, drug, diet or otherwise
advice on how to avoid or compensate for jet lag. Im glad they know about its
mechanisms, but I sure would like some applied science in this topic.

~~~
jballanc
Before leaving, figure out what time breakfast is in the timezone you're
traveling to. Then, 12 hours before that time, start fasting. When you arrive,
have breakfast at a normal (for your new time zone) time. Your circadian
rhythm will reset almost immediately.

~~~
mixologic
Thanks, I will try that.

~~~
leekyle333
You could also take some viagra.
[https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11895-viagra-
reduces-...](https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11895-viagra-reduces-
hamster-jet-lag/)

------
upofadown
Medicine? So I just learned something right now. There is no Nobel prize for
biology.

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Ovah
The HN title is slightly off; the full name of the prize is "Nobel Prize in
Physiology or Medicine".

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trhway
so, can it be that injecting PER protein would cause a person to feel great,
full of energy like in the morning ... and may be actually capable to run 100m
in 8sec or to drive that truck (or Navy destroyer) non-stop for additional 20
hours in a row :)

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jballanc
I understand the Nobel committee's desire to see results validated many times
over before making an award, in order to avoid embarrassment should the
findings be overturned as has happened in the past. I also acknowledge that
the research cited here is very significant and important...but...the research
being awarded is over 30 years old! To say there's not been any _more_
noteworthy and validated discoveries in Medicine since the mid '80s, well, I
just don't buy it.

Just for starters, the fact that Venter _still_ does not have a Nobel is a
crime and, in my mind at least, an irrefutable indictment that, in Academia,
politics and "playing by the rules" is valued far more than _actual_ results.

~~~
adenadel
I'm not sure that Venter should get a Nobel. He has played a big role in
science over the past 2 decades, but I'm not sure that any of his
accomplishments are Nobel-worthy. I certainly don't think he will get one for
his work on the genome project. The genome project was such a large effort
that involed so many people that I can't imagine selecting a few figureheads
to recognize with a Nobel.

~~~
jballanc
Venter led the team to sequence the first genome of a free-living organism.
Before Venter left NIH to start Celera, the Human Genome Project was entirely
focused on making long, pre-aligned reads. It wasn't until Celera started
embarrassing the NIH effort that shotgun sequencing was taken up in earnest.
Later, his idea of then taking shotgun sequencing and applying it to whatever
DNA you could find floating in the Sargasso Sea or any random teaspoon of dirt
literally opened a whole new world of evolutionary biology. Finally, his more
recent work on creating a fully synthetic organism is continuing to push
forward the bleeding edge of biotechnology by laying a foundation all of
humanity is sure to build on for decades to come.

But that one time he told investors that he'd pay for his research by
patenting gene sequences (something he never actually, AFAIK, did do), and all
his accomplishments may as well be nothing in the eyes of some.

~~~
adenadel
I'm very aware of what Venter has accomplished, but I don't think sequencing
Haemophilus influenza is more impactful than sequencing PhiX or phage and
don't think it deserves a Nobel. I don't think a Nobel should be given out for
the sequencing of the human genome. It was a large, systematic effort that
didn't require much clever experimentation. I also don't think his post-Celera
work deserves a Nobel. These are just my opinions. He's obviously a huge
figure in modern science and I love hearing about him and getting to watch him
speak.

