Program Summary
The Biochronicity program conducts fundamental research aimed at improving battlefield medical interventions and combat performance by understanding the role and effects of time in and on human physiology and biological functions. Advances in the understanding of timing in biology could particularly benefit trauma care by expanding the window of opportunity for medical treatment and surgical intervention.
Time is a fundamental variable in all science, including biology. Biological clocks regulate almost every function in the human body, yet scientists lack a clear understanding of the coordination of timing on multiple scales to influence processes such as cell-cycle progression, growth, metabolism, aging, and cell death. The Biochronicity program seeks to identify common spatio-temporal instructions, or “clock signatures,” in biological organisms by using empirically derived data, bioinformatics, and data-mining techniques. The program also aims to identify and validate networks of temporal regulators to enable development of predictive algorithms for time-dependent processes in biological organisms, which would serve as the basis for future medical and training interventions.