BIOCLOCK CONSORTIUM - Key Persons
Dr. Bert Bredeweg is professor science education within the Faculty of Education at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS). He is also an associate professor within the Informatics Institute of the Faculty of Science at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). His research focusses on Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED) and addresses several themes including interactive knowledge representations, computational thinking, and learning analytics. At the AUAS Bredeweg leads the Smart Education lab.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor in Comparative Physiology and Behaviour at the Institute of Biology Leiden
Dr. Christian Tudorache is assistant professor in Comparative Physiology and Behaviour at the Institute of Biology Leiden. He is interested in how individual vertebrates cope with stress, and the link to personality and the biological clock. His approach is multi-disciplinary and integrative, including molecular biology, morphology, biomechanics and toxicology. He joined the consortium to better understand how natural timing is influenced by human activity in the Anthropocene and how to mitigate for possible disruptions of the rhythms of life.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Conservation Biology
Dr. Emily Strange is an Assistant Professor of Conservation Biology within the Institute of Environmental Sciences at Leiden University. Her research is driven to understand the underlying mechanisms that alter communities impacted by anthropogenic stressors. Emily works on plants and plant-insect interactions in freshwater and terrestrial environments, both in tropical and temperate climates.
Job Titles:
- Research Associate at the Department of Molecular Genetics
Dr. Inês Chaves is a research associate at the Department of Molecular Genetics of the Erasmus University Medical Center. Her research is centered around the circadian clock and health risks associated with circadian disturbance. She investigates adverse effects of circadian disturbance and aberrant light exposure during development, aiming to understand the underlying epigenetic mechanisms and identify associated biomarkers.
Dr. Joëlle Oosterman is a medical doctor and medical biologist. She worked as a physician at the Netherlands Obesity Clinic and as a resident at the department of Internal Medicine before she started working as a scientist at TNO Healthy Living. During her PhD (2017, AMC Amsterdam) she assessed the effects of timing of food intake on metabolism and the clock. At TNO, she is involved in a variety of studies focusing on lifestyle as medicine. She believes that focus on the internal clock should be one of the pillars of a healthy lifestyle.
Job Titles:
- Scientific Researcher at the National Institute of Public Health
Dr. Linda W.M. van Kerkhof is scientific researcher at the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). She coordinates multiple projects with a focus on the health effects of circadian disturbances such as shift work and social jetlag. With respect to shiftwork she also coordinates the Dutch Knowledge Platform on Shiftwork in which science, policy and society are represented.
Job Titles:
- Senior Researcher at Eindhoven University of Technology
Dr. Luc Schlangen is senior researcher at Eindhoven University of Technology, in the Intelligent Lighting Institute, department of Human Technology Interaction. His main interests include visual perception and light and health, and especially the neurobehavioral and neuroendocrine responses to light and lighting, both in lab and field settings (healthcare, workplaces, homes and education). Luc is Director of Division 6 "Photobiology and Photochemistry" of the International Commission on Illumination (CIE), and he actively contributes to international knowledge development, standardization and recommendations in the field of photobiology, light and lighting.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor at the Department of Immunology of Leiden University Medical Center
Dr. Ramon Arens is associate professor at the department of Immunology of Leiden University Medical Center. The Arens lab aims to decipher the molecular and cellular regulation of T-cell responses and to use this knowledge to inform and improve immunotherapy against cancer and pathogens. Current research aims used high-dimensional profiling techniques to dissect the mechanisms of effective immunotherapy targeting costimulatory receptors.
Dr. Roelof Hut is associate professor Chronobiology at the University of Groningen. His research team studies circadian and seasonal rhythms in insects, mammals and humans. The effect of daylength and light on behavior, sleep-wake timing, mental performance, physiology, reproduction and growth are at the core of our scientific interests. Our work resulted in over 100 scientific publications and many public outreach activities, including national radio and television shows.
Dr. Tom de Boer is Associate professor in the Neurophysiology group of the department Cell and Chemical Biology of the Leiden University Medical Center. His research focusses on the interaction between sleep and circadian and circannual rhythms. In his recent research he investigated the influence of different aspects of light, pharmaca and age on sleep and circadian rhythms.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Evolutionary and Population Biology at the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics
Prof. dr. Astrid T. Groot is professor of Evolutionary and Population Biology at the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam. Her central research question is how the evolution of sexual communication affects speciation, which she mostly investigates in noctuid moths. She investigates the effects of interacting species, ranging from plant-insect to predator-prey interactions, as well as the effects of temperature and light, on variation in sexual signals and responses within and between populations.
Prof. Dr. Barbara Helm is Professor Biological Rhythms at the Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES), and Visiting Professor at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. She is keenly interested in clocks and calendars of wild things, in particular birds, and fascinated by avian migration. It worries her that human modification of the environment also affects the rhythms of life, and she has joined the consortium to better understand the consequences and possible mitigation.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Chronobiology & Health at Erasmus MC
Prof. dr. Bert van der Horst is professor of Chronobiology & Health at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam. He is fascinated by the impact of our 24/7 society on health and disease. Current research efforts focus on the development of biomarkers that allow an objective and quantitative assessment of the adverse effect of shift work, (social) jet lag, and other conditions that disturb the circadian system. Such biomarkers are prerequisite to develop evidence-based measures that alleviate shift work-associated health risk and contribute to sustainable health and employability.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Molecular Pharmacology
Prof. dr. Laura H. Heitman is professor of Molecular Pharmacology within the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR) of Leiden University. Her ultimate aim is to make medicines work better and thus decrease clinical attrition rates to benefit the patient. To this end, she works on the understanding and improvement of drug-receptor interactions in early drug discovery.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Ecotoxicology
Prof. dr. Martina G. Vijver is professor of Ecotoxicology within the Institute of Environmental Sciences of Leiden University. Her passion is to understand and quantify how much human activities impact ecosystems. She investigates different stressors like chemicals, nanomaterials, electromagnetic fields or light; and the response endpoints can range from fitness of individual species to food chains and ecological communities.
Job Titles:
- Head of the Circadian Clocks Group at the Leiden University Medical Center
- Professor of Neurophysiology