Studiegids

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Circadian Medicine

Vak
2025-2026

Admission requirements

  • Successful completion of 3120321PPY (How to write a research proposal) is helpful, but not obligatory.

  • Successful completion of 312030400Y (CRiP – Advanced Concepts in R) is helpful, but not obligatory

Description

Many behavioral and physiological processes show clear 24-hour rhythms, such as the sleep-wake cycle, hormone levels, energy metabolism, cardiovascular function, bone turnover and immunity. These daily rhythms are driven by the circadian timing system, an endogenous system that takes care of the optimal timing of physiology and behavior throughout the day and night. Dysregulation of this system, caused for example by night shift work or other irregular lifestyles, has detrimental effects on health and disease development. On the other hand, taking into account circadian rhythms offers opportunities to improve many aspects in health care, such as timed pharmacological treatments to improve effectiveness or decrease the risk of adverse drug reactions. In this interdisciplinary FOS course, you will gain insight into how the circadian timing system works and its relevance for health and disease by studying the topic from a basal, clinical and population perspective. In addition to learning about these concepts, you will be challenged to identify important knowledge gaps in this field and to transform these gaps into a PhD project proposal. Finally, you will get hands-on experience with different data science approaches to address research questions in the field of circadian biology. Teaching materials include primary research articles and state-of-the-art review articles that will be provided on BrightSpace.

Course objectives

At the end of this FOS course, you will be able to:
1. Describe the fundamental properties of the circadian timing system and its interaction with other organ systems;
2. Apply your knowledge of the circadian timing system to improve treatment strategies in different areas of health care, including prevention of lifestyle related diseases;
3. Apply data science to address research questions in the field of circadian biology;
4. Identify important knowledge gaps in the field of circadian medicine and transform these into a PhD project proposal.

Timetable

October 20, 2025 – November 14, 2025

Mode of istruction

  • Lectures (basic + keynote)

  • Seminars

  • Journal clubs

  • Working groups

  • Excursion

Assessment method

Assessment and grading method (in percentages):

  • Data science (group) assignments (30%)

  • PhD project proposal (individual written assignment) (50%)

  • Presentation PhD project proposal (20%)

The final grade for the course is established by determining the weighted average.

Reading list

PDFs of primary research articles and review articles will be shared on BrightSpace or identified by the students themselves.

Registration

Registration for FOS courses, H2W, Scientific Conduct, Course on Lab Animal Sciences and CRiP takes place in lottery rounds in the beginning of July. After the lottery rounds: if you want to register for a course you are kindly asked to contact the student administration at masterbms-courses@lumc.nl.

Contact

Remarks

The excursion consists of attending the Dutch SLEEP 2025 conference on November 13, 2025 in Veldhoven. Attendace is arranged by the module. It is the resposibility of the student to be present on time in Veldhoven.