to the Mammalian Circadian Clock

The work presented in this thesis consists of two major parts. In Chapter 2, the theory of sensitivity analysis in oscillatory systems is developed and discussed. Several contributions are made, in particular in the exact calculation of phase sensitivities and in the general-ization of the theory for all types of autonomous oscillators. All methods are based on the solution of a boundary value problem, which identifies the periodic orbit. The choice of initial condition on the limit cycle has important consequences for phase sensitivity anal-ysis, and its influence is quantified and discussed in detail. The results are exact and computationally efficient compared to existing partial methods. The theory is then applied to different models of the mammalian circadian clock syste