Jennifer Loros

Jennifer Loros, also known as J.J. Loros, is a chronobiologist leading the field in the study of circadian rhythms in Neurospora. Her research focuses on circadian oscillators and their control of gene expression in living cells. Currently, Loros is a professor of Biochemistry, Cell Biology, and Molecular and Systems Biology at the Giesel School of Medicine.

Biography

Education Loros is from Los Altos, California. She attended Homestead High School and graduated in 1968. Loros then attended both Cabrillo College and Monterey Peninsula College and received two associate degrees in Biology by 1971. Loros, along with Jay Dunlap and Patricia J. DeCoursey, co-authored the text book "Chronobiology: Biological Timekeeping " which was published on June 1, 2004. The text chronicles the field of chronobiology by exploring both past and current discoveries and their relevance to modern society.

Scientific career

Advancements in methodology Dr. Loros contributed to advancing research techniques by developing a targeted gene disruption technique for use in Neurospora, which had the effect of amplifying gene markers in such a manner as to make identification of low homologous recombination rates possible, which had previously not been the case when using traditional techniques such as Southern Blot tests.

Lastly, continuing on with an idea from her post-doc work, Loros resynthesized a gene that codes for firefly luciferase.

Research into clock-controlled genes and frq After joining the faculty of the Giesel School of Medicine, Loros continued her post-doc research into the regulation of messenger RNA by circadian clocks. Moreover, her work on the negative feedback loop involved in the FRQ pathway demonstrated that the phosphorylation of negative elements of the clock are not as important in controlling the period as once thought. Loros and her collaborators showed that the nature of the FRQ allele controlled the pace of the clock, not the rate of phosphorylation and degradation of clock elements.

Research into photobiology, the White-Collar Complex, and Aspergillus fumigatus During her post-doc work, Loros remarked upon the possibility of frq being light induced, which was later confirmed by a post-doc fellow.

Wc-1, in conjunction with its partner protein, wc-2, was found to be the first described positive element regulator in a circadian feedback loop, with the norm being that of negative regulators. This led to the precedent of the PAS-PAS heterodimers in both animals and fungi alike.