Abstract

Magdalene’s Blackett Society welcomes you back to Cambridge for Easter Term with our latest science talk. Join us next Thursday, 27th April in the Parlour at Magdalene College, free of charge (donations welcome). Drinks will be served from 6.15pm, the talk will start at 6.30pm. Your guests are most welcome. Please email science AT magd.cam.ac.uk to book in.

Circadian rhythms: Everything you always wanted to know about jetlag but were too tired to ask!

(Also applies to all-nighters.)

Most biological organisms contain a ‘body clock’, or circadian rhythm, which organises their physiology and behaviour to match the environmental cycle of day and night. When this biological rhythm is disrupted by jetlag or shiftwork it can seriously affect human health, increasing the risk of pathologies such as heart disease, neurodegenerative disorders and several types of cancer.

Dr John O’Neill is a Group Leader at the Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology with a long term interest in understanding how the circadian rhythm is controlled at the cellular level. His work has been widely published, ranging from Nature and Science to the Independent and the Naked Scientists.

https://blackett.soc.srcf.net/2017/circadian-rhythms-everything-you-always-wanted-to-know-about-jetlag/