Biography

The overall goal of Dr. Gamble's research program is to investigate environmental modulation of circadian clock function in mammalian systems and the contribution of clock disruption to pathological disease. One of the most exciting discoveries that has emerged in recent years is that the circadian molecular clock regulates excitability in neurons that are spontaneously active in the absence of synaptic input. Although the intrinsic 24-h rhythm in membrane properties of neurons of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) has been known for over 30 years, it is surprising that we know very little about how the brain’s circadian clock regulates circadian rhythmicity throughout the body as well as in other brain regions. We are interested in how nutrition (high caloric diets, meal timing) and disease (obesity, neurodegeneration) influence clock-driven changes in physiology and behavior in brain regions such as the SCN, hippocampus and substantia nigra. A second, related interest of the laboratory is translation what we have learned about circadian regulation of metabolism in animal models to humans, specifically by determining the impact of circadian misalignment on metabolic function under a shift work environment.

Education & Training 

Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience,
Georgia State University 2004

Master of Social or Behavioral Sciences in Psychology,
Georgia State University 2001

Bachelor of Arts in Psychology,
King College 1996

Vanderbilt University Biological Sciences,
Postdoctoral Fellowship 2009

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