| Abstract | In this talk, we will discuss a detailed mathematical model for circadian timekeeping within the SCN. Our proposed model consists of a large population of SCN neurons, with each neuron containing a network of biochemical reactions involving the core circadian components. Using mathematical modeling, our results show that both intracellular molecular noise and intercellular coupling (nonlinear in nature) are required to sustain stochastic oscillations in the SCN oscillator network. Our work focuses on the problem of overcoming noise in oscillator systems, and our results highlight the importance of transcriptional noise in enhancing oscillations rather than dampening them. Surprisingly, our predictions have been confirmed experimentally, and we conclude with a short discussion of these results. |
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