Qualifications and Previous Research Training: Dr. DeBruyne earned a Bachelor of Sciences in Biology from Truman State University in 1995 before completing his PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Houston in 2002. The focus of his doctoral work was in developing a high-throughput genetic screen for genes driving circadian behaviors in zebrafish. He completed his post-doctoral training 2002-2008 at the University of Massachusetts Medical School switching to mouse genetics and molecular biology, as was awarded an NIH/NIGMS individual postdoctoral fellowship to identify novel circadian clockwork proteins. In 2008, he joined the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine as a staff scientist focused on developing novel high-throughput cell-based screens to discover post-translational mechanisms regulating protein stability, and in 2011 joined the MSM faculty as an Assistant Professor, where he has raised over 1.7 million dollars in peer-reviewed grant support to continue pursuing ‘discovery’ approaches aimed at understanding circadian rhythm and sleep regulation.

Activities and Research Interests: Organisms have evolved an inherent timing system – a ‘circadian’ clock – that optimizes daily patterns in sleep/wake state, and almost every other aspect of physiology, with the most optimal time of day or night.  Going against our internal circadian clocks, such as working on a rotating shift schedule, causes a wide-range of health problems, including cancer, heart disease and obesity. These problems are becoming more and more prominent as our society continues towards “open 24-hours” culture.

My lab is focused on identifying the genetic, molecular and biochemical mechanisms underlying circadian rhythms and sleep homeostasis. Currently, we are focused in three areas: 1) identifying post-translational mechanisms, and their roles, essential to normal rhythmicity and clock function and 2) genetic and neurological mechanisms underlying sleep homeostasis. Our ultimate goal is to discover new therapeutic avenues for manipulating the timing of circadian rhythms to counteract sleep-loss and clock-related disease risk.

Scholarship: Dr. DeBruyne is an expert in genetics, cell & molecular biology, and high-throughput biology. He has been a reviewer for many journals and has served on grant review panels for NSF and other agencies. He has chaired sessions at scientific conferences, and he or his lab has presented 17 abstracts in poster or slide-session format. He has presented 5 invited lectures on his work. He is also active in publishing, and is the first or corresponding author on 9 of 16 published manuscripts, many of which are in top journals (Neuron, Nature Neuroscience, PNAS, etc) and have been cited in press releases. One publication was even selected as a “Faculty of 1000” paper. Dr. DeBruyne is the Chair of the Research Development committee at MSM, and serves on several other research-oriented committees at MSM, teaches molecular biology and genetics in the Neuroscience program and has mentored several students. In 2015, Dr. DeBruyne became the Director of the Zebrafish Core facility.