On May 9th, 2023, the Dutch Society for Sleep-Wake Research organizes a symposium titled ‘Chronobiology meets sleep: from animal to human research’. The symposium will take place Tuesday the 9th of May from 13:00- 18:00 PM. During the meeting the BioClock founders (Joke Meijer, Laura Kervezee) and other chronobiology researchers will provide a translational perspective on recent and upcoming developments in the field of chronobiology. There will be a panel...

Anneloes Opperhuizen Monday morning, the last weekend of Match, is the start of the first week after Daylight Saving Time has taken place again. At the same time it is the moment we often literally feel that the social clock has shifted an hour. It causes sleep loss of one hour, a sudden change in mealtimes and this shift will take a couple of days to adjust to. It also causes the re-introduction of the discussion: why are we still doing this? And what if we were to quit, what...

PhD candidate Hannah Broeckx provides us with an update of her first year. Insect-predator interactions in the spotlight By Hannah Broeckx I am one year into my research on the effect of artificial light at night (ALAN) on insect-predator interactions. What an interesting process it has been so far! ALAN has been shown to impact organisms in a variety of ways. Through species interactions, these effects can cascade throughout the whole ecosystem, amplifying the total...

PhD candidate Evelien Castrop has started a year ago on her project in which she studies plants; the base of all ecosystems. Are they affected by nocturnal artificial light? She wrote us an update: “The Luminescent Landscape: Understanding the Impact of Artificial Light on Plants” by Evelien Castrop Is ALAN changing the way our wild plants grow? If so, then how?  The project I have been working on for the past year focuses on investigating the effect of artificial...

PhD candidate Sander Buddendorf has worked for the past year on his project to understand the bats in urban environments. Are they affected by nocturnal light exposure? That is what he tries to find out in his project. An update on his first year. Understanding the urban bat By Sander Buddendorf The bat is a mysterious flying nocturnal mammal. Many people I talked to in the “field” – in major Dutch cities such as Rotterdam and The Hague – come to me and tell me about bats...

In the fall of 2022, PhD candidates Koen Vink and Tamara Brouwers started with their BioClock project at the RIVM. Supervised by prof. Debbie van Baarle and prof. Jacco Wallinga, they investigate the interaction between the circadian clock and the immune system. More specifically, they look at the timing and dosing of vaccinations on the immune response and burden of disease. With epidemiological and modelling work (Koen) and preclinical and clinical studies (Tamara), in the next...

On Thursday February 2nd, StrandLAB Almere organizes mini lectures on the importance of darkness. BioClock coordinator, Joke Meijer, will hold a lecture and tickets can be bought through www.strandlab-almere.nl. StrandLAB Almere is a cultural outdoor laboratorium on the beach of Almere. It is a place for talent and experiments. In collaboration with citizens, artists, scientists and cultural partners they develop cultural programs on current issues.