Rob Jackson

Research/Areas of Interest

An important goal of contemporary neuroscience research is to define the neural circuits and synaptic interactions that mediate behavior. Mechanisms regulating circadian behavior and sleep, both rhythmic behaviors, are remarkably similar in Drosophila and mammals. The molecular biology of the circadian clock, for example, is virtually identical in flies and mammals, including humans (Jackson, 2011). In mammals, sleep is regulated by homeostatic and circadian processes, and the same is true of Drosophila sleep, which has characteristics in common with human sleep. In mammals and Drosophila, the neuronal circuits controlling circadian behavior or sleep have been the subject of intensive investigation, but roles for glial cells in the networks controlling rhythmic behavior are not as well understood (Jackson et al., 2020). Our lab was the first to document an important role for astrocytes in the physiological regulation of circadian behavior (Suh and Jackson, 2007; Ng et al, 2011, 2015, 2016). Others have shown that mammalian astrocytes also regulate circadian behavior and sleep. Our more recent studies have utilized Drosophila astrocyte gene expression profiling (Huang et al, 2013; Huang et al, 2015; Ng et al, 2016; You et al, 2021). as a basis for RNAi-based genetic screens to discover glial factors regulating circadian behavior or sleep (Ng and Jackson, 2015; Ng et al, 2016; You et al, 2021; Sengupta et al, 2019). In related studies, we have performed a genome-wide screen for small Drosophila non-coding RNAs (microRNAs) that regulate circadian behavior (You et al, 2018). That screen has revealed a number of microRNAs and target RNAs that are required in adult astrocytes for normal circadian behavior. Ongoing studies in the lab are focused on astrocyte-neuron communication in the regulation of Drosophila sleep (See Jackson Lab research description).