The Japanese have found a way to instantly move the biological clock forward

Traveling to the east and night shifts often turn into a nightmare for the body, but now there is a solution to this problem. A team of specialists from Japan has discovered a substance capable of tweaking the internal settings of our body. The new drug promises to save travelers from the painful adjustment to time zones, and workers from chronic fatigue after duty. A publication in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describes the action of a compound codenamed Mic-628. This substance specifically activates the Period1 gene, which is responsible for the sense of time at the cellular level, and works much more reliably than the usual melatonin. The main value of the discovery lies in the fact that the drug allows you to speed up internal rhythms, which is physiologically much more difficult than slowing them down.

The Japanese have found a way to instantly move the biological clock forward
The mechanism of action of the drug is unique. The Mic-628 molecule binds to certain repressor proteins inside cells and triggers a chain of reactions that mimic the change of time of day. As a result, the central clock in the brain and peripheral clocks in organs (for example, in the lungs) synchronously move the hands forward. The peculiarity of the method is its independence from external conditions. If light therapy or taking sleep hormones require strict timing (otherwise it can only make things worse), then the new compound works stably, regardless of the time of reception. It gives the body a command: “it’s morning now,” and the body obediently rebuilds itself. The effectiveness of the development was tested on laboratory mice, which were given an artificial flight with a time shift of six hours ahead. Under normal conditions, it took the animals a whole week to recover and restore their normal activity. The situation has changed dramatically after the application of Mic-628. One dose of the substance was enough to shorten the adaptation period from seven days to four. The rodents entered a new rhythm of life much faster without any visible side effects. Mathematical modeling has confirmed that the drug acts predictably, triggering natural feedback in cells. Physiologists have long noticed that adaptation to flights to the west is easier: it is easier for us to force ourselves not to sleep longer than to fall asleep earlier than expected. That is why flights to the east and early morning shifts are so difficult for the body — the biological clock resists acceleration. Existing methods of dealing with this condition are often ineffective and inconvenient. The Japanese development solves this problem at the molecular level by offering a pharmacological reset. The authors of the project have safety checks and human tests ahead of them. If they are successful, the first-aid kits of tourists and shift workers will be replenished with the world’s first smart medicine for time management.

Published

January, 2026

Category

Science

Duration of reading

2-3 minutes

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Scientific Journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Article: A Period1 inducer specifically advances circadian clock in mice

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