Name: Emily Manoogian
Hometown: Sanger (Fresno Area), California
Hobbies: Traveling, tap dance, painting/drawing, being in nature (Yosemite, beaches, etc.)
What do you study? I am a chronobiologist, which means I study how organisms control the timing of various biological events and how they coordinate that timing with the environment. Specifically, I study how the timing of our behavior (when we eat, sleep, and move) interacts with the biological rhythms inside our body, and how that impacts our health. I use a smartphone app to capture data from people all around the world the get a better understanding of modern lifestyle: when, what, and how much we eat, sleep, move, and interact.
Why is it important? Chronobiology is a large field with research at every level including behavior, cellular, molecular, and genetic analyses in a wide variety of organisms. Biological clocks throughout our body work to keep everything in the right place at the right time so our body functions properly. Disruption in biological rhythms can lead to an increased risk for a wide variety of diseases. In modern society, we are exposed to many artificial cues (such as artificial light, 24-hour access to food, and late night activity), which can be hazardous for healthy biological rhythms. We are working to understand how we can change our behaviors to support biological rhythms and thus, improve our health.
What do you like about being a scientist? My favorite thing about being a scientist is getting to discover new aspects of biology that no one knows. To become a scientist, you have to learn a lot. Once you know enough about a field, you start to identify knowledge gaps, determine what’s important, and decide what kind of questions you want to ask. Then you get to design experiments to find the answer.
Another wonderful aspect of science is that it is completely international. I have friends from all around the world that I met at science conferences. This is tied into the other amazing perk of getting to travel. So far, I have been all around the US (New York, Florida, Illinois, Alabama, Massachusetts – where I did my PhD, Vermont, Rhode Island, etc.), and internationally to Canada, Switzerland, and India!