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Mathematical Modeling of Circadian Rhythms

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Circadian Clocks

Part of the book series: Neuromethods ((NM,volume 186))

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Abstract

Mathematical techniques are often viewed as tools for data description and analysis. A valuable additional purpose is employing mathematical models as a research technique to both generate and test hypotheses. Mathematical model simulations have elucidated key processes controlling phase, amplitude, period, and synchrony in the circadian system from the molecular level to the organismal level. Through a series of three examples spanning a range of different spatial scales, we demonstrate the valuable interplay among mathematical modeling, experimental data, and hypotheses about the generation of circadian rhythms, the properties of these rhythms, and their manipulation.

Models have allowed circadian rhythms researchers to identify relationships between molecular and environmental inputs to the central circadian clock and output properties of that clock that can be used to make predictions about valuable targets for shifting the clock. They have demonstrated how features of networks of oscillators lead to synchrony among the oscillators of the circadian system, and they have illustrated how different experimental protocols may result in seemingly contradictory conclusions about the properties of the circadian system that emerge at the organismal level from these networks. This interplay among model, experiment, and hypothesis makes mathematical modeling a powerful research technique not only for data analysis but also for developing hypotheses and designing experiments to test them.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Lindsey S. Brown & Francis J. Doyle III

  2. Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    John H. Abel

  3. Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Elizabeth B. Klerman

  4. Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Elizabeth B. Klerman & Francis J. Doyle III

  5. Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Elizabeth B. Klerman

Authors
  1. Lindsey S. Brown
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  2. John H. Abel
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  3. Elizabeth B. Klerman
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  4. Francis J. Doyle III
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Francis J. Doyle III .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan

    Tsuyoshi Hirota

  2. Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan

    Megumi Hatori

  3. Regulatory Biology Laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Satchidananda Panda

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© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

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Brown, L.S., Abel, J.H., Klerman, E.B., Doyle, F.J. (2022). Mathematical Modeling of Circadian Rhythms. In: Hirota, T., Hatori, M., Panda, S. (eds) Circadian Clocks. Neuromethods, vol 186. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2577-4_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2577-4_19

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  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-2576-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-2577-4

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