Assistant Professor,
Department of Biology
Michael C. Tackenberg, Ph.D.
I am an Assistant Professor in Neuroscience in the Department of Biology at the University of Kentucky, where my lab’s research focuses on the generation, maintenance, and communication of phase and period in mammals and honey bees.
I began researching circadian rhythms as an undergraduate student in the lab of Dr. Fred Davis at Northeastern University, and have been a proud chronobiologist since.
I performed my Ph.D. work in the lab of Dr. Douglas McMahon at Vanderbilt University, where my research focused on how light exposure history impacted the synchronization of neurons in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the mammalian central clock, and how sublethal doses of common pesticides influenced honey bee circadian rhythms.
After completing my Ph.D., I joined the lab of Dr. Jake Hughey at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, working on developing computational tools for analyzing circadian rhythms. Following my time in the Hughey Lab, I began a postdoctoral fellowship in the Lazar Lab at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, where I researched period length regulation at the transcriptional level.
The Tackenberg Lab 