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Bite-sized Research

Want to know what circadian rhythms are?

Want know what macrophages are?

Want to know more about how scientists do experiments?

Read on! I love sharing what I do and unveiling what goes on in the research lab.

What are macrophages?

Macrophages are a type of white blood cell that are the first responders to pathogens like bacteria and viruses

Have you ever gotten a cut on your skin? If we didn't have an immune system to protect us from the germs that get into our bodies from things like cuts, we wouldn't live too long! You have white blood cells living all throughout your body: in your skin, liver, lungs (to name a few). There are many different types of white blood cells, but the most numerous type is called macrophages (pictured above).

Macrophages are hungry little cells, literally eating and sampling everything they come into contact with--like a mini Pac-Man! They're programmed to ignore any of your own body's cells, but to react if they eat something that hasn't come from your body--like bacteria or viruses. As soon as they recognize that something doesn't belong, they alert the rest of the immune system to get rid of it.

You want your macrophages to function at their best at the time of day you need them--like when you're out and about, encountering bacteria and viruses from your environment. However, finding and eating bacteria is hard work! Just like humans, macrophages also need a rest period to recover from all the hard work they did throughout the day. Macrophages each have a cellular clock that keeps track of the time of day so they can work and rest at the appropriate time. As long as your macrophage clock is functioning properly, your macrophages are functioning properly.

However, sometimes, your macrophage's clock can get out of whack and tell them the wrong time. This throws off a lot of macrophage functions, and can eventually lead to immune diseases or more bacterial and viral infections. By getting the proper amount of sleep and getting the right amount of light at the right time of day, you can ensure your macrophage clock is functioning properly to keep you healthy.

Circadian Rhythms

Circadian rhythms tell your body what time of day it is, to keep all your bodily systems and cells running smoothly.

Before modern devices and electric lighting, humans lived according to the cycles of light and dark. Over time, we have adapted to these 24-hour daily cycles and they have been incorporated into our daily activities: we instinctually know what time of day to sleep, what time of day to eat, and what time we are most alert. Having an internal circadian rhythm, or clock, helps us to anticipate certain activities so we can perform at our best. One of my favorite examples of this is sunflowers. We all know they turn their heads to follow the sun during the day, but at night, right before dawn, they instinctually turn their head to face east, where they know the sun will rise. This creates an advantage for the sunflowers, because their heads warm up sooner to attract more bees to pollinate their flowers and make more seeds which make more sunflowers!

The organs in our bodies, like our stomach, heart, and intestines, all have clocks that tell them what time it is to give the best advantages to our body. For example, your digestive system is more active during the day when you're eating and have food to digest; but it slows down at night when you're asleep (and probably not eating!). On an even smaller scale, each cell in your body has its own circadian rhythm that tells them what time to do certain cellular activities so they can function at their best at the right time of day.

But what happens if you get a poor night of sleep, have a midnight snack, or travel to a different time zone? You probably know from experience that you don't feel your best the next day (or three). Any of these activities is called a circadian disruption. It takes us a few days to get our bodies back to our natural circadian rhythm where every body system is back on the same time. However, if you have too many of these disruptions over a long period of time, you can be at a higher risk for many different types of diseases, especially many forms of cancer.

So do your body clock a favor and do your best to keep good sleep hygiene by getting bright light as soon as you wake up, and turning off devices that emit light, like phones and TV, an hour before bedtime.