Charles Weitz, MD, PhD – Faculty Profile
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Title: Robert Henry Pfeiffer Professor of Neurobiology.
The Aim
The Weitz Lab studies the molecular clocks underlying our circadian rhythms and how these clocks control numerous biological activities in the brain and other tissues.
The Impact
Circadian rhythms are the body’s internally generated daily rhythms, extending far beyond the familiar sleep–wake cycle. The molecular clock that drives these rhythms runs inside virtually every cell. The Weitz Lab focuses on the multi‑protein machines that make up the circadian clock. Understanding this clock is increasingly relevant to medicine: disruptions to circadian rhythms are associated with metabolic disorders, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and mood disorders, as well as the adverse health effects of shift work and jet lag. Developing a precise molecular picture of the clock opens new possibilities for therapies that selectively target different parts of our internal clocks.
A Closer Look
Article: Circadian Clock’s Inner Gears , Harvard Medical School, September 2017. Chuck Weitz’s lab showed that core circadian clock proteins do not act alone but assemble into a single large “PER complex” that binds DNA to sustain the 24‑hour feedback loop, providing the first structural view of how the clock’s molecular machinery is built.
Article: Health, Disease, and Chronobiology , Harvard Medicine Magazine, Fall 2022. The article explains how our internal 24‑hour clocks regulate sleep, metabolism, hormones, and brain function, and how modern lifestyles can throw these rhythms out of sync. It links circadian disruption to increased risks of chronic disease and highlights how the timing of light exposure, sleep, and meals is becoming a central focus in medicine and public policy.