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Research

Indian Chronobiology Research packs in much diversity. It spans across timescales of cell division to daily physiological and behavioural rhythms.

Labs in India

Leading chronobiology research laboratories across the country

Prof. Sheeba Vasu

Chronobiology and Behavioural Neurogenetics Laboratory

Prof. Sheeba Vasu

Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore

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Dr. Nisha N Kannan

Chronobiology Laboratory

Dr. Nisha N Kannan

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Thiruvananthapuram

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Dr. Shalie Malik

Centre for Biological Timekeeping

Dr. Shalie Malik

Lucknow University

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Prof. Sangeeta Rani

Centre for Biological Timekeeping

Prof. Sangeeta Rani

Lucknow University

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Dr. Aakansha Sharma

Centre for Biological Timekeeping

Dr. Aakansha Sharma

Lucknow University

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Dr. Sandipan Ray

Circadian Rhythms and Disease Biology Laboratory

Dr. Sandipan Ray

Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad

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Dr. Sanjay Kumar Bhardwaj

Department of Zoology

Dr. Sanjay Kumar Bhardwaj

Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut

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Dr. Amit Trivedi

Department of Zoology

Dr. Amit Trivedi

Mizoram University

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Dr. Sougata Roy

Roy Lab

Dr. Sougata Roy

Ashoka University

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Dr. Ashutosh Srivastava

Computational Biology Laboratory

Dr. Ashutosh Srivastava

Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar

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Dr. Shaon Chakrabarti

Cell and Developmental Biology Department

Dr. Shaon Chakrabarti

National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS)

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Dr. Shahnaz Rahman Lone

Department of Life Sciences

Dr. Shahnaz Rahman Lone

GITAM School of Science, Visakhapatnam

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Chronobiology Journals

Leading journals publishing chronobiology research

Chronobiology International

Publishes biological rhythm research on all life forms

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Journal of Biological Rhythms

Emphasis on circadian and seasonal rhythms

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Clocks & Sleep

Covers all aspects of biological rhythms and sleep in all organisms

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Sleep

Covers research related to sleep and circadian science

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Sleep Medicine

Research that bridges basic sleep science and clinical practice

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Journal of Circadian Rhythms

Research article dealing with circadian rhythms in living organisms

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Biological Rhythm Research

Covers broad range of biological rhythms such as ultradian, infradian, circadian or annual rhythms

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Frontiers in Physiology

Circadian physiology and biological processes

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Frontiers in Neuroscience

Circadian neuroscience and sleep research

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Scientific Reports

Multidisciplinary journal that frequently publishes chronobiology studies

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Current Biology

Cell biology, behavior, sleep and circadian biology

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Analysis Tools Used in Circadian Research

Software and tools for analyzing chronobiological data

ActogramJ (ImageJ plugin)

Developed by Benjamin Schmid, Charlotte Helfrich-Förster, Taishi Yoshii. Used for analysis and visualization of chronobiological data.

RhythmicAlly

Developed by Abhilash Lakshman & Sheeba Vasu.

Catkit

Used for analysing circadian rhythms, to extract period and phase and other key characteristics.

Chronobiology Kit Software

Developed by Stanford Software Systems, Santa Cruz, California, USA (Refinetti et al., 2007).

CircWave v1.4

Developed by Roelof Hut, University of Groningen, Netherlands. Software package for detecting and analyzing circadian and seasonal rhythms using harmonic regression and waveform fitting techniques.

CIRCADA

Three Shiny apps CIRCADA-I, CIRCADA-E, and CIRCADA-S support exploration of circadian data, enabling visualization and analysis of circadian parameters like period and phase.

Nitecap

Brooks et al., 2021. Analyse time-series, high-throughput data to detect, quantify, and compare rhythms and circadian behaviour.

VANESSA

Ghosh & Sheeba, 2022. Collection of useful tools to visualize and analyze time series data obtained from Drosophila Activity Monitors.

MODA

Multiscale Oscillatory Dynamics Analysis. Designed for analysing real-life time-series data.

JTK-CYCLE

Non-parametric rhythm detection in large, genome-scale data sets and estimate their period length, phase, and amplitude.

RAIN

Uses non-parametric methods to detect rhythms in time series data.

ARSER

Python package for identifying periodic expression profiles in analysing circadian microarray data.

SW1PerS

Persistent homology-based rhythm detection.

MetaCycle

Detects rhythmic signals from large-scale time-series data. Combines ARSER, JTK_CYCLE and Lomb-Scargle.

CircaCompare

R package used for statistical analyses and comparison of two circadian rhythms.

DryR

Differential RhythmicityY. R package used for assessing differential rhythmicity of a time series with two and more conditions.

compareRhythms

Finds features with altered circadian rhythm parameters (amplitude and phase) between the control and experimental groups.

cosinoRmixedeffects

Used for estimation and prediction of a mixed-effects cosinor model for longitudinal periodic data.

LimoRhyde

Linear models for rhythmicity, design. Enables differential analysis of circadian transcriptome data.

The PAICE Suite

Suite of packages that allows for identification and analysis of rhythms with changing amplitudes. Has three main components ECHO, ENCORE and MOSAIC.

Per2py

Provides code for processing colour-switching Per2iLuc data in a high-throughput manner.

ClockLab (ACTIMETRICS)

A widely used program for analysis of circadian rhythms.

EL Temps

The Chronobiologist's program.

ActiLife

Ametris' legacy data processing software, developed to capture objective, continuous data to inform measures of physical activity, sleep and vital signs.

MotionWare

Provides analysis functions for sleep, circadian rhythms and physical activity alongside device and data management tools.

pyActigraphy

Python package for actigraphy and light exposure data visualization and analysis.

LightLogR

Under development. Import, analyze and visualize wearable light logger data.

HOBOware

Visualization and analysis of data collected by HOBO environmental data loggers (temperature, light, humidity etc.).

dlmoR

Dim-light melatonin onset estimation.

Databases and Data Repositories

Resources for accessing and analyzing chronobiology data

BioDare2

Circadian data repository and period analysis platform.

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CircaDB

Circadian Expression Profiles Data Base.

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ClockProfile

For exploring circadian gene expression.

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RhythmicDB

Explore, analyse and validate oscillatory rhythms across transcriptomes.

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Chronobiology Societies

International societies advancing chronobiology research

Society for Research on Biological Rhythms (SRBR)

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Canadian Society for Chronobiology (CSC)

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Australasian Chronobiology Society (ACS)

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Recommended Books

Essential reading in chronobiology

Chronobiology: Biological Timekeeping

Dunlap, J. C., Loros, J. J., & DeCoursey, P. J. (2004). Sinauer Associates.

Circadian Physiology

Refinetti, R. (2016). CRC Press.

Introducing Biological Rhythms

Koukkari, W. L., & Sothern, R. B. (2006). Springer Netherlands.

Biological Timekeeping: Clocks, Rhythms and Behaviour

Kumar, V. (Ed.). (2017). Springer.

The Rhythms of Life

Kreitzman, L., & Foster, R. (2011). Profile Books.

An Introduction to the History of Chronobiology, Volume 1

Shackelford, J. (2022). University of Pittsburgh Press.

An Introduction to the History of Chronobiology, Volume 2

Shackelford, J. (2022). University of Pittsburgh Press.

Night Owls and Early Birds

Gander, P. (2023). Auckland University Press.

The Avian Migrant

Rappole, J. H. (2013). Columbia University Press.

Circadian Rhythms: A Very Short Introduction

Foster, R., & Kreitzman, L. (2017). Oxford University Press.

Internal Time: Chronotypes, Social Jet Lag, and Why You're So Tired

Roenneberg, T. (2012). Harvard University Press.

On the Essential Principles and Practice of Circadian Biology

Hut, R. A., & Schwartz, W. (2025).

Circadian Clocks: Methods and Protocols

Brown, S. A. (Ed.). (2021). Humana Press.

Fundamentals of Sleep and Circadian Science

Cirelli, C. (Ed.). (2025). Oxford University Press.

Recent Publications

Latest research contributions from Indian chronobiologists

1. Gopalakrishnan S, Nishad A, Regi R, Frost A, Yoshii T, Kannan NN. The curious case of CCHamide1: a role for CCHamide1 in sleep, metabolism, and fitness in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics. 2026 Jun 3;233(2):iyag096. doi: 10.1093/genetics/iyag096. PMID: 41968725.

2. Geo Anna, Namitha Tharayil Jayalal, Anagha Jayan, Akash Ranjan Mishra, Nisha N Kannan, Circadian locomotor activity-rest rhythm in Drosophila is regulated by microRNA-275, Genetics, Volume 232, Issue 4, April 2026, iyag030, https://doi.org/10.1093/genetics/iyag030

3. Segu A, Sansaria S, Kannan NN. Tequila, the Serine Protease, Is Involved in Sleep-Dependent Memory Consolidation in Drosophila. eNeuro. 2025 Aug 28;12(8):ENEURO.0566-24.2025. doi: 10.1523/ENEURO.0566-24.2025. PMID: 40816727; PMCID: PMC12501825.

4. Sharma A, Rao S, Manjithaya R, Sheeba V. Differential response of neurons to autophagy modulation in Huntington's disease. Autophagy Rep. 2025 Jun 30;4(1):2519102. doi: 10.1080/27694127.2025.2519102. PMID: 40607262; PMCID: PMC12218432.

5. Naaz, Huda & Malik, Shalie & Rani, Sangeeta & Kumar, Sudhir. (2026). Sun-orientation behaviour and perching spacing in Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis) during morning and evening. International Journal of Zoology Studies. 11. 86-90.