On April 22, 2024 the annual Chronobiology meeting has taken place in the oldest zoo and botanical garden of The Netherlands: Natura Artis Magistra, or in short Artis. A full day symposium, focusing on the research on circadian biology and biological rhythms.

The program wasfilled with a variety of researchers, covering the wide spectrum of chronobiology in nightshifts, therapies and responses in humans, animals, fish, insects, plants, etc.. And from the abstracts submitted a small selection of researchers were invited to give an oral presentation. Alternatively, a variety of poster presentations could be enjoyed during the breaks and lunch.

We had Professor Astrid Groot (UvA Amsterdam) giving a lecture on ‘the Effects of light pollution on circadian rhythms in night-active butterflies, central players in nature’s foodweb’. Dr Heidi Lammers-van der Holst (Erasmus MC, Rotterdam) kept everyone awake with a lecture on ‘Optimizing sleep and health in shift workers; lifestyle intervention studies in practice’ and Prof dr Wilbert Zwart (NKI Amsterdam) presented ‘A story on how circadian rhythm regulators are hijacked by cancer cells for their survival’.

We were very pleased to have had Prof. dr Annie Curtis (Professor of Immunology at RCSI) giving the keynote lecture titled

“Watching the clock; impact of circadian rhythms on innate immune function, from inflammation to vaccination”

With this program we offered a wide spectrum of all the chronobiology work that is done in the Netherlands and inspire others to advance chronobiology research and implementation of research results in society.

Click here for the full program

This symposium was organized and funded by NWO/ the BioClock consortium, a 6 year research project on the effects of the biological clock, light pollution, night shifts and therapies on  humans, animals, insects, fish and plants.

For questions, contact us at bioclock@lumc.nl.

We enjoyed organising this symposium and are looking forward to meeting you in 2025 for the next edition of the Chronobiology Symposium,

Dirk Jan Stenvers (Amsterdam UMC), Andries Kalsbeek (Amsterdam UMC & NIN), Susanne la Fleur (Amsterdam UMC & NIN), Chun-Xia Yi (Amsterdam UMC), Joke Meijer (LUMC & BioClock), Laura Kervezee (LUMC & BioClock), Jeroen van der Leijé (LUMC & BioClock)