Take notice of time!
Mission
Chrono@Work’s mission is to help to prevent the disruption of 24-hour rhythms in our current society by ‘taking notice of time’. Taking notice of time, both the time of day and the internal time of a person’s endogenous biological clock is an essential part of optimising daily life around the 24h day and clinical treatment. We do this by supporting companies, researchers and health professionals with dissemination of knowledge, science-driven training, consultancy and applied science in the context of 24-h rhythms, light, sleep-wake rhythms, and its role for wellbeing and health.
By taking notice of time! people will feel better, sleep better and perform better. Therapies will improve if they make use of this knowledge by inventing new ways of treatment or by optimising the beneficial effects and minimising side effects of existing treatments. Companies will benefit from using this knowledge to improve the working environment, resulting in a more safe and secure environment with more healthy employees, who perform better. Take notice of time! is essential from the moment of birth up to the last years of life. It will support healthy ageing and improve quality of life.
Partner of the University of Groningen
Chrono@Work is a spin-off company of the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. We work in close collaboration with several members of the Brain & Behavior and Chronobiology groups of the GELIFES institute at the Faculty of Science & Engineering. Dr. Gordijn holds a guest research position at this faculty. We supervise PhD students and research projects of undergraduate students in Biology, Biomedical Sciences Education & Communication, and Medical Sciences. In agreement with the GELIFES institute of the University of Groningen we are able to use several facilities: the time-isolation facility for human chronobiology and sleep studies, the endocrinology laboratory and the isotope laboratory.
Collaborations
Chrono@Work scientists work in close collaboration with scientists both in The Netherlands and abroad. We participate in research projects at the Chronobiology Department of the GELIFES institute at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. In that context we also participated in the STW project ‘On Time’ together with scientists from the Netherlands Institute of Neuroscience, Amsterdam; the Technical University Eindhoven; and Philips Research Eindhoven.
There is a long tradition in collaborative research projects between scientists of Chrono@Work and the departments of Psychiatry and Ophthalmology at the University Medical Center in Groningen, The Netherlands. Recently, also collaboration between Chrono@Work and scientists from the department of Public, Environmental and Occupational Health, at the same institute, have begun. Other collaborations in the Netherlands are e.g. with scientists from the Department of Clinical Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology of the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences.
A research project with Prof. S. Brown from the Chronobiology and Sleep Research Group of the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Zurich, Switzerland is ongoing.
Our team
Marijke C.M. Gordijn, PhD.
Founder/ CEO
Dr. Marijke C.M. Gordijn is founder/ CEO, shareholder and senior scientist of Chrono@Work. After finishing her Masters in Biology at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, she worked for more than 25 years as a scientist specialised in human chronobiology and sleep at both the department of Chronobiology at the University of Groningen and the department of Psychiatry at the University Medical Center Groningen. In 2012, she founded Chrono@Work to improve the application of fundamental chronobiological knowledge in society.
In addition to being director of Chrono@Work, Marijke Gordijn is appointed as a guest researcher at the University of Groningen. She is regularly asked to advise the Health Council of the Netherlands. She has been on the board of the Dutch Sleep Foundation, of the Society for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms and has chaired the scientific committee of the Dutch Sleep Foundation. She is currently board member of the Good Light Group, where she is co-founder and is co-founder of Chronotherapy Network Netherlands.
Prof. M.P. Gerkema, PhD.
Advisory board
Professor Menno Gerkema is professor in Chronobiology at the Department of Chronobiology, part of the GELIFES institute at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. He is co-founder of Chrono@Work, shareholder and participates as a member of the advisory board. The main focus of his chronobiological scientific work is on ultradian rhythms in animal behaviour and the evolutionary perspective of night- and day active behaviour. He is a pioneer in bringing society and science together at the Faculty of Science & Engineering and this resulted both in the development of a 1-year Master-track ‘Science, Business and Policy’ at the faculty and the start of the Faculty Centre for Entrepeneurship, of which he is the director.
Prof. D.G.M. Beersma, PhD.
Advisory board
Professor Domien Beersma is an emeritus professor of human chronobiology, member of the GELIFES institute at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. He is co-founder of Chrono@Work, shareholder and participates as a member of the advisory board. After his graduation as a Biophysicist he did his PhD on the visual system of the flies’ eye. He worked as a sleep scientist at the Psychiatric University of the University Medical Center of Groningen for more than 20 years and continued his scientific work on the biological clock and sleep at the Department of Chronobiology. In 2005 he became professor and chair of this department. Later on, he served as deputy director of a Masters degree programme: the research master’s degree programme in behavioural and cognitive neurosciences. Currently he is retired but still actively involved in supervising PhD students.
Prof. R.A. Hut, PhD.
Advisory board
Professor Roelof Hut is associate professor at the Chronobiology unit at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. He is scientific advisor in the advisory board of Chrono@Work. He was trained as graduate student by Serge Daan and did his postdoc with Howard Cooper at INSERM in Lyon, France. He currently serves as board member of the Groningen Institute of Evolutionary Life Sciences and is member of the advisory and editorial board of the Journal of Biological Rhythms. He is/was scientifically involved in European collaborative networks EUCLOCK and INsecTIME as well as in the Dutch networks OnTime and BioClock. His entire scientific career was devoted to chronobiology with a strong interest in evolutionary, ecological and neurobiological aspects of rhythms, using data driven research as well as modelling approaches. His focus is on mammals, but over the last years he extended his work with projects in birds, insects and humans.
Marina C. Giménez, PhD.
Science advisor
Marina C. Giménez PhD. is science advisor at Chrono@Work since 2013. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she moved to the Netherlands in 2004. She received her PhD at the University of Groningen, at the department of Chronobiology with her thesis titled ‘Light from dawn to dusk; human entrainment in a changing environment’. As a postdoc, she worked at Philips Lighting and Philips Research in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Over the past years, she has temporarily rejoined the chronobiology group at the University of Groningen, to work part-time in the ‘Accelerate SSL innovation for Europe, a 7th framework programme’.
Michelle Luxwolda, M.Sc.
Science project manager
Michelle Luxwolda is a science advisor at Chrono@Work. After finishing her Bachelor’s degree in Lifescience & Technology at the University of Groningen in 2016, she decided to follow the master programme in Behavioural & Cognitive Neuroscience. She joined the Chronobiology group during her first master project in 2018, focussing on the effects of chronic stress on peripheral circadian clocks. For her second master project, she did an internship at Chrono@Work, where she performed a field study on the relationship between social jetlag, food and glucose patterns in night workers. While graduating, she started working at Chrono@Work where she now has a permanent position as scientific project manager. She is involved in various projects and laboratory measurements.
Rieks Hoekman, MSc.
Science advisor
Rieks Hoekman is working as a science advisor at Chrono@Work. After finishing his Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Sciences and Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences at the University of Groningen, he decided to follow the research master programme Biomedical Sciences. He joined Chrono@work in 2021. He is envolved in data collection, data analysis, and laboratory measurements and is developing programming skills with Python.
Marthe Koopmans, MSc.
Science Advisor
Marthe Koopmans is science advisor at Chrono@Work. After finishing her Bachelor’s degree in Lifescience & Technology (biomedical sciences & behavioural- and cognitive neuroscience) at the University of Groningen in 2020, she decided to follow the master programme Neurosciences. She joined Chrono@Work as an intern during her second master project in 2021, focussing on the effects of near-infrared light on well being and health in volunteers suffering from sleep deficit. While graduating, she continued to work on the near-infrared project at Chrono@Work. In 2023, she started working at Chrono@Work in several projects, including data collection, data analysis, statistics, and laboratory measurements.