Circadian Rhythm News and Research

Latest Circadian Rhythm News and Research

World's first fully reversible manipulation of the circadian clock

The Nagoya University Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules research team of Designated Associate Professor Tsuyoshi Hirota, Postdoctoral Fellow Simon Miller, Professor Kenichiro Itami and graduate student Tsuyoshi Oshima (Research Fellowship for Young Scientists, JSPS), in collaboration with the group of Professor Ben Feringa and Postdoctoral Fellow Dušan Kolarski of Groningen University in the Netherlands, have achieved a world first: fully reversible manipulation of the period of the circadian clock using light, by exchanging part of a compound with a light-activated switch.

25 Jan 2021

Researchers discover unexpected role for the clock gene in prostate cancer progression

Our biological or circadian clock synchronizes all our bodily processes to the natural rhythms of light and dark. It's no wonder then that disrupting the clock can wreak havoc on our body.

15 Jan 2021

Brain protein indicates a link between circadian rhythm dysfunction and Alzheimer's Disease

Fractured sleep, daytime sleepiness and other signs of disturbance in one's circadian rhythm are common complaints of people with Alzheimer's disease, and the problems only get worse as the disease progresses.

17 Dec 2020

Can melatonin help prevent severe COVID-19?

A team of researchers at the University of Toronto in Canada has found that melatonin can be an adjuvant to augment the efficacy of anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. They believe that the drug is a potential “silver bullet” to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

3 Dec 2020

Researchers identify a neural pathway that links circadian clock, stress, and wakefulness

A Nagoya University-led research team in Japan has found a new neural pathway that links the circadian clock, stress, and wakefulness in mammals.

27 Nov 2020

Wearing blue-light glasses before sleeping can improve sleep quantity and quality

During the pandemic, the amount of screen time for many people working and learning from home as well as binge-watching TV has sharply increased. New research finds that wearing blue-light glasses just before sleeping can lead to a better night's sleep and contribute to a better day's work to follow.

15 Oct 2020

Researchers identify a novel protein that repairs DNA

Researchers from the University of Seville, in collaboration with colleagues from the Universities of Murcia and Marburg (Germany) have identified a new protein that makes it possible to repair DNA.

14 Oct 2020

Regular moderate physical exercise can significantly reduce cancer risk

Disruption to our circadian rhythms due to a mismatch between environmental influences, such as exposure to light or mealtimes, and our internal 24-hour clock (circadian rhythm) is a possible cause of cancer.

13 Oct 2020

Tuned lighting helps improve sleep in nursing home residents, study finds

Nursing home residents tend to fall asleep at all hours of the day, and during the night, their sleep may be interrupted by periods of wakefulness.

6 Oct 2020

Circadian rhythm affects SARS-CoV-2 infection and host immune response

In an interesting bioRxiv preprint paper, French researchers show that the time day can affect infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), as well as guide subsequent host immune response – implying that circadian rhythm may well be a novel target for managing viral progression.

14 Sep 2020

Study: Lipoic acid supplements promote weight loss in certain obese adults

A compound given as a dietary supplement to overweight but otherwise healthy people in a clinical trial caused many of the patients to slim down, research by Oregon State University and Oregon Health & Science University showed.

12 Aug 2020

Increase in blood sodium levels influences the biological clock of mice

A new study from McGill University shows that increases in the concentrations of blood sodium can have an influence on the biological clock of mice, opening new research avenues for potentially treating the negative effects associated with long distance travel or shift work.

9 Jul 2020

Researchers develop less invasive genetic tools to understand cellular activity

Graduate student Ubadah Sabbagh placed a cold glass slide on the microscope. It was getting late and the lab was quiet.

24 Jun 2020

Sleep deprivation reduces positive feelings

Sleeping less than normal impacts how we feel the next morning.

22 Jun 2020

Sleeping less than normal can reduce positive feelings

"Not in the sense that we have more negative feelings, like being down or depressed. But participants in our study experienced a flattening of emotions when they slept less than normal. They felt less joy, enthusiasm, attention and fulfilment," says Associate Professor Ingvild Saksvik-Lehouillier at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's (NTNU) Department of Psychology.

18 Jun 2020

Irregular circadian rhythm in older adults associated with increased risk of Parkinson's disease

Older men who have a weak or irregular circadian rhythm guiding their daily cycles of rest and activity are more likely to later develop Parkinson's disease, according to a new study by scientists at the UC San Francisco Weill Institute for Neurosciences who analyzed 11 years of data for nearly 3,000 independently living older men.

15 Jun 2020