This is the second installment of our Biomed Bites series, a weekly feature that highlights some of Stanford's most compelling research and introduces readers to innovative scientists from a variety of disciplines.
What do giant bamboo plants -- which flower once every 64 years -- and cancer cells have in common? Both are governed by a biological cycle that Stanford professor James Ferrell, MD, PhD, is working to decipher. "We're trying to figure out how these clocks work," Ferrell says in the video above.
Ferrell says he has to use many tools familiar to physicists who work commonly with oscillations, although he studies living organisms as part of the burgeoning field of chronobiology.
Humans are governed by a network of closely rhythms, Ferrell explains:
We are intrinsically rhythmic organisms. We are a different person in the morning from the person we are in the evening. This might have profound consequences in terms of the proper way to treat disease.
Learn more about Stanford Medicine's Biomedical Innovation Initiative and about other faculty leaders who are driving forward biomedical innovation here.
Becky Bach is a former park ranger who now spends her time writing or on her yoga mat. She's currently a science writing intern in the medical school's Office of Communication & Public Affairs.
Previously: Studying the drivers of metastasis to combat cancer, Why sleeping in on the weekends may not be beneficial to your health, The key to speed? Inside the cell, it's trigger waves
Photo in featured entry box by Breezy Baldwin
