For the project “Retinal mechanisms underlying caffeine effects on the human circadian system”, Dr. Carolin Reichert has been awarded the Borbély-Hess Fellowship by the Swiss Society for Sleep Research, Sleep Medicine and Chronobiology (SSSSC). Together with Dr. Manuel Spitschan (University of Oxford), Carolin will investigate if caffeine changes the sensitivity to light of specific circadian photoreceptors and if it changes pupil size and thereby retinal illumination. This study advances our mechanistic understanding of how light affects human physiology and behaviour and how these effects are modified pharmacologically by caffeine intake.

In August 2021, Dr. Christine Blume has been awarded a prestigious Ambizione fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF; approx. CHF 930’000). From April 2022 on, she will be studying the effects of (natural) daylight and physical exercising (i.e., hiking) on circadian rhythms and sleep in a four-year project. The project also includes a position for a PhD candidate, which will be advertised in autumn 2021.

Photo: Universität Basel, Christian Flierl.