{{Infobox scientist | name = Samer Hattar | native_name = سامر حتر | native_name_lang = ar | image = | caption = | birth_date = | birth_place = Amman, Jordan | citizenship = | nationality = | ethnicity = | fields = Neuroscience<br>Chronobiology | workplaces = Johns Hopkins University<br>American University of Beirut<br>University of Houston | alma_mater = Yarmouk University | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = Melanopsin<br>ipRGC | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | influences = | influenced = | awards = Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow <br> David and Lucile Packard Foundation Fellowship for Science & Engineering<br>Albert Lehninger Research Award | religion = | signature = <!--(filename only)--> | footnotes = }}
'''Samer Hattar''' ({{langx|ar|سامر حتر}}) is a chronobiologist and a leader in the field of non-image forming photoreception. He is the Chief of the Section on Light and Circadian Rhythms at the National Institute of Mental Health, part of the National Institutes of Health. He was previously an associate professor in the Department of Neuroscience and the Department of Biology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. He is best known for his investigation into the role of melanopsin and intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGC) in the entrainment of circadian rhythms.
==Life== Samer Hattar was born in Amman, Jordan to a Jordanian father and a Lebanese mother. Raised in a Christian family, he planned on becoming a priest. He studied at Terra Sancta High School, a Catholic high school in Amman, from 1978 to 1988. He earned good grades in his classes and fell in love with biology when introduced to Mendel's pea plant experiments. This passion inspired him to pursue a career in science. He attended Yarmouk University in Irbid for his undergraduate studies, where he majored in Biology and minored in Chemistry. His high marks earned him the honor of meeting Hassan Bin Talal, the prince of Jordan. After graduating from Yarmouk in 1991, he completed a master's degree in biochemistry at the American University of Beirut in Beirut. He began his graduate studies in biochemistry in 1993 at the University of Houston where he studied circadian regulation of a transcription factor in aplysia.<ref name=bio1>{{cite web|title=NACS Event :: Atypical mammalian photoreceptors influence circadian rhythms, mood and learning|url=http://www.nacs.umd.edu/calendar/event.cfm?eventid=2701|publisher=NACS: Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, University of Maryland, College Park|accessdate=12 April 2013|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20140904104218/http://www.nacs.umd.edu/calendar/event.cfm?eventid=2701|archivedate=4 September 2014}}</ref> Hattar completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the Solomon Snyder Department of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he made discoveries on ipRGCs. In 2004, he established his laboratory in the Department of Biology at Johns Hopkins University.<ref name=bio2>{{cite web|title=Samer Hattar - Biology|url=http://www.bio.jhu.edu/faculty/hattar/|publisher=Johns Hopkins University|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20140904104218/http://www.bio.jhu.edu/faculty/hattar/|archivedate=2014-09-04}}</ref><ref name="JHU Mag">{{cite web|last1=Hendricks|first1=Melissa|title=Clock Wise|url=http://pages.jh.edu/~jhumag/1107web/clock.html|website=The Johns Hopkins Magazine|publisher=Johns Hopkins University|accessdate=22 April 2015}}</ref> He is married to Rejji Kuruvilla, a neuroscientist also working at Johns Hopkins.<ref>{{cite web|title=Rejji Kuruvilla|url=http://bio.jhu.edu/directory/rejji-kuruvilla/|website=Department of Biology|date=24 March 2015 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University|accessdate=27 December 2016}}</ref>
==Scientific work== {{see also|Chronobiology}} Hattar is known for his work in the area of chronobiology. He is credited with discovering that the photopigment melanopsin and associated ipRGCs play an important role in the entrainment of circadian rhythms <ref name=Reppert>{{cite journal|last1=Reppert|first1=Stephen|last2=Weaver|first2=D. R.|title=Coordination of circadian timing in mammals|journal=Nature|date=29 August 2002|volume=418|issue=6901|pages=935–941|doi=10.1038/nature00965|pmid=12198538|bibcode=2002Natur.418..935R|s2cid=4430366}}</ref><ref name=Schmidt>{{cite journal|last1=Schmidt|first1=Tiffany|last2=Do|first2=Michael|last3=Dacey|first3=Dennis|last4=Lucas|first4=Robert|last5=Hattar|first5=Samer|last6=Matynia|first6=Anna|title=Melanopsin-Positive Intrinsically Photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells: From Form to Function|journal=The Journal of Neuroscience|date=9 November 2011|volume=31|issue=45|pages=16094–16101|doi=10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4132-11.2011|pmid=22072661|pmc=3267581}}</ref><ref name="Indoor Lighting">{{cite book|last1=Sansoni|first1=Paola|last2=Mercatelli|first2=Luca|last3=Farini|first3=Alessandro|title=Sustainable Indoor Lighting|date=2015|publisher=Springer|isbn=9781447166337|page=290|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_FsEBgAAQBAJ|accessdate=8 April 2015}}</ref> Before Hattar's work, it was assumed that organisms entrained to daily light-dark cycles through the same mechanisms that are responsible for vision. However, case studies reported that some who were completely blind could still entrain to these cycles. This observation, coupled with the discovery of melanopsin by Ignacio Provencio, led Hattar to hypothesize that this photopigment might be responsible for photoentrainment.<ref name="JHU Mag" />
==Awards and honors== * Albert Lehninger Research Award, 2004<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/dome/0405/picture_this.cfm |archive-date= 2004-07-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040707223724/http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/dome/0405/picture_this.cfm |url-status=dead |title=The Young Investigators, April 8, 2004 |website=Dome | Johns Hopkins Medicine}}</ref> * Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow, 2006<ref name="faculty honors">{{Cite web |url=http://www.bio.jhu.edu/Directory/FacultyHonors.aspx |title=Faculty Honors |access-date=2013-04-24 |archive-date=2013-07-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130705125943/http://www.bio.jhu.edu/Directory/FacultyHonors.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref> * Lucile & David Packard Foundation Fellowship for Science and Engineering, 2006<ref name="faculty honors" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20161231162911/http://bio.jhu.edu/directory/samer-hattar JHU Biology Department: Dr. Hattar's page]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hattar, Samer}} Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:Jordanian biologists Category:Chronobiologists Category:Yarmouk University alumni Category:American University of Beirut alumni Category:University of Houston alumni Category:Johns Hopkins University faculty