Rensselaer Polytechnic Institue

Our 24 h rhythms, timed by our circadian clocks, control up to 80% of our genome, allowing us to anticipate daily environmental changes to organize our physiology and behavior. Chronic circadian disruption (CD) negatively affects human health and is implicated at many levels of disease, particularly those with an inflammatory component, such as Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD). This inflammatory scenario is driven by systemic macrophages and their brain counterparts, the microglia. To address the influence of CD on ADRD, a unique partnership has been established among a circadian molecular biologist, a biochemical engineer, and a lighting device architect who are collaborating on designing a 3D neuronal organoid-on-a-chip platform together with mouse and human studies.