José Duhart, Ph.D.

Research

Our research aims to advance the understanding of how sleep and circadian rhythms are regulated. On one front, we focus on how the neuronal network that constitutes the Drosophila circadian clock is affected by aging, diet, and the interaction between these two factors. We are currently deepening our analysis of how aging affects circadian processes, with the long‑term goal of establishing a framework that incorporates circadian rhythmicity into the evaluation of interventions designed to improve quality of life throughout aging.

Additionally, we study how sleep can be modulated when organisms face competing needs, and how environmental and internal-state contexts influence this regulation. For example, one of our goals is to characterize how food quality is integrated as a contextual signal capable of shifting the balance between sleep and reproductive behaviors in Drosophila.