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Dag en Nacht afbeelding met een boom in het midden

Our biological clock


The entire living nature on the planet, including humans, has a ‘ biological clock’ which responds to the impact of light and darkness and the natural cycles of day and night

Research has shown that the impact of light is much bigger than anticipated. Because of the 24-hour society in which we now live, the biological clock gets disrupted. This has a serious impact for the health of humans and the health of all living creatures, by which the fragile biodiversity faces an increased risk

Within the BioClock consortium, researchers and societal partners from across the Netherlands have joined forces to restore and preserve the health of the biological clock. They work together to gain a better understanding of our biological clock, in order to restore the health of this clock, ultimately leading to an increase of  human health and of all living creatures on the planet 

Read more about our research en who we are.

The project covers the whole of society: from human health and disease to the natural environment and the protection of animals and insects.

Topics such as shift work, optimal times for cancer immunotherapy and flu vaccinations, chronotherapy for depression, and the effects of light pollution on insects and other light-sensitive animals are all covered in our six-year research program.

Partners

The BioClock consortium is an interdisciplinary network of universities, societal partners, local governments, and other parties that all share a common goal: we want to investigate how to keep the biological clock healthy in our 24/7 society. Funded by NWO, 25 PhD students and postdocs will work on this project in the coming years, supervised by researchers from academic institutes across the Netherlands and in collaboration with the many co-financing and cooperation partners.

Kaart met Academische partners (academic partners):

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The BioClock Consortium is funded by the NWA-ORC programme of the Dutch Research Council (NWO; project number 1292.19.077).