Sean Ronnekleiv-Kelly
Credentials: MD
Position title: Assistant Professor of Surgery
A main focus of our laboratory is to understand how circadian disruption (either behavioral via chronic jetlag or through genetic modifications of core clock genes) contributes to pancreas cancer development and spread. We have performed initial studies characterizing the impact of circadian disruption / chronic jetlag on the pancreatic transcriptome and pancreatic lipidome. We have found that chronic jetlag induced changes to the core circadian clock causes significant changes to gene expression in pancreatic metabolic pathways (including channel proteins involved in insulin secretion), and in the expression of pancreatic lipid species. We are therefore trying to discern how circadian biology and disruption of circadian rhythms contribute to metabolic changes in the pancreas. Subsequently, we propose to understand how circadian disruption-induced metabolic changes provide cancer cell growth advantage in the pancreas.