What is the bioclock academy?
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The BioClock Academy are monthly online seminars in which researchers in the field of chronobiology speak about a topic related to the biological clock, with a key focus to introduce basic concepts and understanding of biological rhythms. This includes topics within chronobiological fields of medicine, ecology, psychology and biomedical sciences.
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When?
Seminars take place every third Wednesday of the month, from 16:00-17:00 (GMT+1, Amsterdam). The 60 minute seminars (40 min. talk + 20 min. discussion) are free to join and take place via Zoom.
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By who?
Organized by the BioClock Academy Committee, with scientists from the consortium and around.
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For whom?
Our goal is to educate early career scientists who are new to the field of chronobiology. But, everyone is welcome to join!
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How to attend?
Upcoming seminar
Frank A.J.L. Scheer, PhD is Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Senior Neuroscientist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), and the Director of the Medical Chronobiology Program at BWH.
Dr. Scheer’s work focuses on the influence of the endogenous circadian system and its disruption—such as with shift work and jet lag—on cardiovascular, pulmonary, and metabolic regulation and disease states, such as hypertension, asthma, obesity and diabetes. This work focuses both on the physiological mechanisms and therapeutic strategies of medical chronobiology.
Dr. Scheer has received numerous scientific awards, including the Young Investigator Award by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the First Place Clinical Research Young Investigator Award from the National Sleep Foundation/Sleep Research Society (combined), and the Neal Miller Award by the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research. Dr. Scheer is a Board Member of the European Society of Biological Rhythms and Member of the Program Committee of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.
Schedule
April 17, 2024
Prof. Frank Scheer
Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School, US
Topic: Cardiometabolic effects of circadian misalignment and chrononutrition
May 15, 2024
Prof. Susan Golden
Center for Circadian Biology, University of California, San Diego, US
Topic: Cyanobacterial circadian rhythms in vivo and in vitro
Past seminars
Prof dr John Hogenesch began his scientific career as a neuroscientist interested in how genes regulate behavior. A series of inspiring mentors propelled him to pursue those interests across industry and academia. He has since worked with many scientists on projects in plants, flies, zebrafish, mice and people. This work has focused on the function of noncoding RNAs; building a Gene Atlas of the mouse, human and rat transcriptomes; and cell-based screening, among others.
He is particularly interested in genome biology with a focus on the circadian clock. In his lab at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, they work to uncover the mechanisms of the circadian clock and apply that knowledge to medicine. For example, their lab has discovered several core clock genes and proven that they regulate physiology and behavior. This includes his discovery of the transcription factor Bmal1 — the master regulator of the mammalian clock — along with its paralog, Bmal2, and its partner, Npas2. Later, his lab characterized Rora/Rorb/Roc as key regulators of Bmal1 and circadian function. They also discovered Chrono as a non-canonical repressor of Bmal1/Clock, and Kpnb1 as a required transporter of the PER/CRY complex.
prof. dr. Marcel Visser (NIOO-KNAW) is widely recognized as a world-leading expert on the ecological and evolutionary impact of anthropogenic environmental changes. He aims to understand how climate change disrupts natural systems, using long-term studies on wild species. His work on phenological mismatch within food chains has turned his model species, the great tit, into the poster child for climate change impact. In his research he integrates work on epigenetic regulation of gene expression, fitness consequences of timing in the wild, with the impact of climate-change on population numbers.
Academy Lecture on September 20 (’23) by dr. Marijke Gordijn “Melatonin and melatonin treatments”
Academy lecture on June 21 (’23) by dr. Niki Antypa: “Clocks in depression”
Academy lecture on May 17 (’23) by dr. Laura Kervezee: “Human chronobiology in the lab and in the field: from molecular rhythms to clinical applications”
Academy lecture on April 19 (’23) by dr. Ellen Cieraad: “Illuminating disruptors of the plant clock”
Academy lecture on February 15 (’23) by prof. Andries Kalsbeek, Amsterdam UMC: “The ins and outs of the central brain clock”
Academy lecture on January 18 (’23) by prof. Roelof Hut, University of Groningen: “Light entrainment of circadian clocks”
Academy lecture on November 16 (’22) by Dr. Ines Chaves, Erasmus MC: “Molecular Clocks; zooming in on circadian rhythms”
Academy lecture on October 19 (’22) by Dr. ir. K. Spoelstra, NIOO-KNAW: “Clocks in ecology”
Academy lecture, on September 21 (’22) by Prof. J.H. Meijer, LUMC: “The neuronal network organization of the central circadian clock”