Joseph Takahashi, Ph.D. Titles and Appointments Professor & Chair Endowed Title Loyd B. Sands Distinguished Chair in Neuroscience School Medical School Department Neuroscience Graduate Programs Neuroscience Biography Download Curriculum Vitae Joseph S. Takahashi is Chair of the Department of Neuroscience at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He currently holds the Loyd B. Sands Distinguished Chair in Neuroscience. Before moving to UT Southwestern, Dr. Takahashi was the Walter and Mary Elizabeth Glass Professor in the Life Sciences at Northwestern University. During his 26-year tenure at Northwestern, he held appointments as professor in the Department of Neurobiology and Physiology on the Evanston campus and professor in the Department of Neurology at Northwestern University Medical School. In addition, he was also the director of the Center for Functional Genomics. Dr. Takahashi received a BA in biology from Swarthmore College in 1974 and a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Oregon, Eugene, in 1981. For postdoctoral training, he was a pharmacology research associate at the National Institute of Mental Health from 1981-1983. Dr. Takahashi has pioneered the use of forward genetics and positional cloning in the mouse as a tool for discovery of genes underlying neurobiology and behavior, and his discovery of the mouse and human clock genes led to a description of a conserved circadian clock mechanism in animals. He is the author of more than 340 scientific publications and the recipient of many awards including the Honma Prize in Biological Rhythms Research, NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award, Searle Scholars Award, Bristol-Myers Squibb Unrestricted Grant in Neuroscience, and the C. U. Ariens Kappers Medal. He received the W. Alden Spencer Award in Neuroscience from Columbia University in 2001, was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2000, a Member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2003 and a Member of the National Academy of Medicine in 2014. He received the Gruber Neuroscience Prize at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in 2019. Dr. Takahashi has served on a number of advisory committees for the National Institutes of Health, as well as scientific advisory boards for Eli Lilly and Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Neuroscience Committee, the Genomics Research Institute for the Novartis Foundation, the Klingenstein Fund, the Searle Scholars Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Allen Institute for Brain Science, the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, and the Restless Legs Syndrome Foundation. He was also a co-founder of Hypnion, Inc., a biotech discovery company in Worcester, Mass., that investigated sleep/wake neurobiology and pharmaceuticals (now owned by Eli Lilly and Co.). He is a co-founder of Synchronicity Pharma., a biotech company that works on the role of clocks in sleep and cancer. He is or was on the Editorial Boards for Neuron, PNAS, eLife, J Biol Rhythms, Neurobiology of Sleep and Circadian Rhythms, Genes, Brain and Behavior, Aging Cell, and Specialty Lead, Genomics & Genetics/Animal Genetics, H1 Connect, Faculty Opinions. Education Undergraduate Swarthmore College (1974), Biology Graduate School University of Oregon (1981), Biology Research Interest Aging and longevity Circadian Biology Circadian clocks and parasites Genetic Dissection of Behavior Molecular Neuroscience Mouse Genetics and Genomics Oscillator dynamics Publications Featured Publications Parasite and vector circadian clocks mediate efficient malaria transmission. Bento I, Parrington BA, Pascual R, Goldberg AS, Wang E, Liu H, Borrmann H, Zelle M, Coburn N, Takahashi JS, Elias JE, Mota MM, Rijo-Ferreira F, Nat Microbiol 2025 Mar The time is now: accounting for time-of-day effects to improve reproducibility and translation of metabolism research. Deota S, Pendergast JS, Kolthur-Seetharam U, Esser KA, Gachon F, Asher G, Dibner C, Benitah SA, Escobar C, Muoio DM, Zhang EE, Hotamisligil GS, Bass J, Takahashi JS, Rabinowitz JD, Lamia KA, de Cabo R, Kajimura S, Longo VD, Xu Y, Lazar MA, Verdin E, Zierath JR, Auwerx J, Drucker DJ, Panda S, Nat Metab 2025 Mar 7 3 454-468 Recommendations for measuring and standardizing light for laboratory mammals to improve welfare and reproducibility in animal research. Lucas RJ, Allen AE, Brainard GC, Brown TM, Dauchy RT, Didikoglu A, Do MTH, Gaskill BN, Hattar S, Hawkins P, Hut RA, McDowell RJ, Nelson RJ, Prins JB, Schmidt TM, Takahashi JS, Verma V, Voikar V, Wells S, Peirson SN, PLoS Biol 2024 Mar 22 3 e3002535 Neuronal deletion of the circadian clock gene Bmal1 induces cell-autonomous dopaminergic neurodegeneration. Kanan MK, Sheehan PW, Haines JN, Gomez PG, Dhuler A, Nadarajah CJ, Wargel ZM, Freeberg BM, Nelvagal HR, Izumo M, Takahashi JS, Cooper JD, Davis AA, Musiek ES, JCI Insight 2023 Nov Metabolic and chemical architecture of the mammalian circadian clock. Laothamatas I, Rasmussen ES, Green CB, Takahashi JS, Cell Chem Biol 2023 Sep 30 9 1033-1052 The importance of sleep regularity: a consensus statement of the National Sleep Foundation sleep timing and variability panel. Sletten TL, Weaver MD, Foster RG, Gozal D, Klerman EB, Rajaratnam SMW, Roenneberg T, Takahashi JS, Turek FW, Vitiello MV, Young MW, Czeisler CA, Sleep Health 2023 Sep DNA methylation networks underlying mammalian traits. Haghani A, Li CZ, Robeck TR, Zhang J, Lu AT, Ablaeva J, Acosta-Rodríguez VA, Adams DM, Alagaili AN, Almunia J, Aloysius A, Amor NMS, Ardehali R, Arneson A, Baker CS, Banks G, Belov K, Bennett NC, Black P, Blumstein DT, Bors EK, Breeze CE, Brooke RT, Brown JL, Carter G, Caulton A, Cavin JM, Chakrabarti L, Chatzistamou I, Chavez AS, Chen H, Cheng K, Chiavellini P, Choi OW, Clarke S, Cook JA, Cooper LN, Cossette ML, Day J, DeYoung J, Dirocco S, Dold C, Dunnum JL, Ehmke EE, Emmons CK, Emmrich S, Erbay E, Erlacher-Reid C, Faulkes CG, Fei Z, Ferguson SH, Finno CJ, Flower JE, Gaillard JM, Garde E, Gerber L, Gladyshev VN, Goya RG, Grant MJ, Green CB, Hanson MB, Hart DW, Haulena M, Herrick K, Hogan AN, Hogg CJ, Hore TA, Huang T, Izpisua Belmonte JC, Jasinska AJ, Jones G, Jourdain E, Kashpur O, Katcher H, Katsumata E, Kaza V, Kiaris H, Kobor MS, Kordowitzki P, Koski WR, Krützen M, Kwon SB, Larison B, Lee SG, Lehmann M, Lemaître JF, Levine AJ, Li X, Li C, Lim AR, Lin DTS, Lindemann DM, Liphardt SW, Little TJ, Macoretta N, Maddox D, Matkin CO, Mattison JA, McClure M, Mergl J, Meudt JJ, Montano GA, Mozhui K, Munshi-South J, Murphy WJ, Naderi A, Nagy M, Narayan P, Nathanielsz PW, Nguyen NB, Niehrs C, Nyamsuren B, O'Brien JK, Ginn PO, Odom DT, Ophir AG, Osborn S, Ostrander EA, Parsons KM, Paul KC, Pedersen AB, Pellegrini M, Peters KJ, Petersen JL, Pietersen DW, Pinho GM, Plassais J, Poganik JR, Prado NA, Reddy P, Rey B, Ritz BR, Robbins J, Rodriguez M, Russell J, Rydkina E, Sailer LL, Salmon AB, Sanghavi A, Schachtschneider KM, Schmitt D, Schmitt T, Schomacher L, Schook LB, Sears KE, Seifert AW, Shafer ABA, Shindyapina AV, Simmons M, Singh K, Sinha I, Slone J, Snell RG, Soltanmohammadi E, Spangler ML, Spriggs M, Staggs L, Stedman N, Steinman KJ, Stewart DT, Sugrue VJ, Szladovits B, Takahashi JS, Takasugi M, Teeling EC, Thompson MJ, Van Bonn B, Vernes SC, Villar D, Vinters HV, Vu H, Wallingford MC, Wang N, Wilkinson GS, Williams RW, Yan Q, Yao M, Young BG, Zhang B, Zhang Z, Zhao Y, Zhao P, Zhou W, Zoller JA, Ernst J, Seluanov A, Gorbunova V, Yang XW, Raj K, Horvath S, Science 2023 Aug 381 6658 eabq5693 Universal DNA methylation age across mammalian tissues. Lu AT, Fei Z, Haghani A, Robeck TR, Zoller JA, Li CZ, Lowe R, Yan Q, Zhang J, Vu H, Ablaeva J, Acosta-Rodriguez VA, Adams DM, Almunia J, Aloysius A, Ardehali R, Arneson A, Baker CS, Banks G, Belov K, Bennett NC, Black P, Blumstein DT, Bors EK, Breeze CE, Brooke RT, Brown JL, Carter GG, Caulton A, Cavin JM, Chakrabarti L, Chatzistamou I, Chen H, Cheng K, Chiavellini P, Choi OW, Clarke SM, Cooper LN, Cossette ML, Day J, DeYoung J, DiRocco S, Dold C, Ehmke EE, Emmons CK, Emmrich S, Erbay E, Erlacher-Reid C, Faulkes CG, Ferguson SH, Finno CJ, Flower JE, Gaillard JM, Garde E, Gerber L, Gladyshev VN, Gorbunova V, Goya RG, Grant MJ, Green CB, Hales EN, Hanson MB, Hart DW, Haulena M, Herrick K, Hogan AN, Hogg CJ, Hore TA, Huang T, Izpisua Belmonte JC, Jasinska AJ, Jones G, Jourdain E, Kashpur O, Katcher H, Katsumata E, Kaza V, Kiaris H, Kobor MS, Kordowitzki P, Koski WR, Krützen M, Kwon SB, Larison B, Lee SG, Lehmann M, Lemaitre JF, Levine AJ, Li C, Li X, Lim AR, Lin DTS, Lindemann DM, Little TJ, Macoretta N, Maddox D, Matkin CO, Mattison JA, McClure M, Mergl J, Meudt JJ, Montano GA, Mozhui K, Munshi-South J, Naderi A, Nagy M, Narayan P, Nathanielsz PW, Nguyen NB, Niehrs C, O'Brien JK, O'Tierney Ginn P, Odom DT, Ophir AG, Osborn S, Ostrander EA, Parsons KM, Paul KC, Pellegrini M, Peters KJ, Pedersen AB, Petersen JL, Pietersen DW, Pinho GM, Plassais J, Poganik JR, Prado NA, Reddy P, Rey B, Ritz BR, Robbins J, Rodriguez M, Russell J, Rydkina E, Sailer LL, Salmon AB, Sanghavi A, Schachtschneider KM, Schmitt D, Schmitt T, Schomacher L, Schook LB, Sears KE, Seifert AW, Seluanov A, Shafer ABA, Shanmuganayagam D, Shindyapina AV, Simmons M, Singh K, Sinha I, Slone J, Snell RG, Soltanmaohammadi E, Spangler ML, Spriggs MC, Staggs L, Stedman N, Steinman KJ, Stewart DT, Sugrue VJ, Szladovits B, Takahashi JS, Takasugi M, Teeling EC, Thompson MJ, Van Bonn B, Vernes SC, Villar D, Vinters HV, Wallingford MC, Wang N, Wayne RK, Wilkinson GS, Williams CK, Williams RW, Yang XW, Yao M, Young BG, Zhang B, Zhang Z, Zhao P, Zhao Y, Zhou W, Zimmermann J, Ernst J, Raj K, Horvath S, Nat Aging 2023 Aug A missense mutation in Kcnc3 causes hippocampal learning deficits in mice. Xu P, Shimomura K, Lee C, Gao X, Simpson EH, Huang G, Joseph CM, Kumar V, Ge WP, Pawlowski KS, Frye MD, Kourrich S, Kandel ER, Takahashi JS, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022 Aug 119 31 e2204901119 Time to target the circadian clock for drug discovery. Rasmussen ES, Takahashi JS, Green CB, Trends Biochem Sci 2022 May Results 1-10 of 252 1 2 3 4 5 Next Last Books Featured Books Handbook of Behavioral Neurobiology: Volume 12 Circadian Clocks Takahashi, J.S., F.W. Turek and R.Y. Moore (Ed.) (2001). New York, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishing Honors & Awards Gruber Neuroscience PrizeThe Gruber Foundation, presented at the 2019 Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting (2019) National Academy of MedicineMember (2014) Outstanding Scientific Achievement AwardSleep Research Society (2012) National Academy of SciencesMember (2003) W. Alden Spencer AwardCollege of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University (2001) American Academy of Arts and SciencesFellow (2000) 6th C.U. Ariens Kappers AwardNetherlands Society for the Advancement of Natural Sciences, Medicine and Surgery (1995) Honma Prize in Biological Rhythms ResearchHonma Foundation of Life Sciences (1986) Professional Associations/Affiliations American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2000) National Academy of Medicine (2014) National Academy of Sciences (2003)
