Research

The goal of the Circadian Medicine research group is to advance and apply our understanding of the circadian timing system to improve human health, with a specific focus on hospital conditions and patient care. Our research focuses on the following topics:

Chronobiological interventions to improve clinical outcomes

Chronobiology offers countless opportunities to improve different aspects of the health care system. For example, hospitalized patients are currently subjected to an environment that presents weak and conflicting timing cues to the circadian clock, characterized by exposure to aberrant lighting conditions, frequent interruptions, noise, and atypical feeding schedules. However, robust cyclic timing cues from the environment are important to synchronize circadian rhythms and thereby support sleep, health and wellbeing. In collaboration with the Department of Intensive Care (LUMC), we currently investigate the effect of the timing of nutritional support on circadian rhythms and sleep. In collaboration with the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of UMC Utrecht, we also investigate the impact of light-dark cycles on preterm development and clinical outcomes.

Mechanisms underlying the connection between circadian system and health

Biological insight into the mechanisms underlying the relationship between the circadian timing system and physiology is essential to advance our mechanistic understanding of the clinical relevance of chronobiological interventions. We are interested in understanding the role of the circadian clock in various physiological processes on a molecular, cellular, and systems level. In collaboration with the Department of Immunology (LUMC), we currently focus on effect of circadian rhythms on the immune response in the context of immunotherapy.

Circadian rhythms in real-world clinical settings

A wealth of data is available from electronic health records (EHR) that are collected as part of routine clinical care in hospitals worldwide. These high-resolution, time-stamped databases offer seemingly endless opportunities to investigate daily variation in physiology in different patient populations in clinical settings. We focus on developing computational approaches to study circadian rhythms in clinical settings, taking into account the various sources of bias and confounding factors that influence these noisy datasets.

Public outreach & science communication

More awareness and knowledge of circadian rhythms and sleep will promote health and wellbeing across society. In addition, it’s fun to talk about! We therefore have a longstanding interest in spreading the love for chronobiology on social media & traditional media, developing new material on circadian rhythms for different audience (e.g. schools and museums) and more recently, developing an evidence base for the effectiveness of public outreach activities related to circadian biology.