Most early-stage biomedical research exposes cells to constant conditions. But in real life, hormones, nutrients and metabolic signals rise and fall across the 24-hour cycle. Microfluidics allows us to closely model this, improving our fundamental research, helping make big advances in medicine.
I made this journey with the climate in mind - it's important for scientists to attend meetings, but it's also important to do so while minimising impact. Yes this journey was long, and yes it was more expensive than flying. But it's possible, especially within Europe.
What’s next? Well today I’m spending most of the day in the dark room, setting up a new experiment on a piece of equipment that really changed the direction on our Science study: microfluidics - a technology that allows us to precisely control how a cell’s environment changes over time.
Solid night's sleep! (OK, bar is low with a young family).
Dinner in Paris, breakfast in Perpignan, lunch in Barcelona - travelling by train is great!
So the intercite du nuit is cosy. Bed's comfy enough - I've got the bottom bunk which is at least easy to get into!
Arrived! 7 legs of public transport from home to the conference with not a single problem.
A conference in Europe gives the opportunity to not travel by plane
So, I'm travelling to GRC Chronobiology #circadian in Barcelona by train from Cambridge. Smooth ride so far but Eurostar is unexpectedly busy! Next connection - the overnight from Paris to Perpignan. Travelling backpacker style 😀
If anyone is interested, I've updated our take on a cellular basis of the mammalian nocturnal-diurnal switch @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social
We've refined the paper (for the better, hopefully!) - my fave updates are the results from a collab with Zoonomia (Fig 3)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Since I moved to @mrclmb.bsky.social I’ve been trying to answer this: Why are some mammals active at night and others in the day? Today our answer is out @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/....
If you’re interested in circadian biology, evolution or how timing shapes physiology, take a look
#EMBOClimateResilience
“The way in which our universities have divided up the sciences does not reflect the ways in which nature has divided up its problems”
@embo.org
@monicabettencourt.bsky.social
Early mammals were nocturnal while dinosaurs dominated the daytime. Mammalian transition to daytime activity accelerated after the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction, but the underlying mechanisms remain...
