Abstract
It has been nearly one year since we realized we were entering a pandemic of COVID-19. We each have a slightly different date we might count this from, and the date most scientists will recall is the day they locked their lab and went home.
Scientists from around the world have helped as they were able. This has led, in impressively little time considering that this virus was unknown about a year ago, to data on the biological mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 infections, and to several approved vaccines.
Our community of chronobiologists have applied their expertise in various ways. The first efforts were to describe the effects of the lockdown and pandemic on sleep and behavioral daily cycles. Multiple studies have showed changes in sleep timing and duration during lockdown.
But biological rhythms sculpt much more than just sleep-wake cycles. Expertise in biological rhythms could apply to quite varied aspects of knowledge and actions on COVID-19. Many researchers gathered for a virtual meeting in July 2020 (European Biological Rhythms Society (EBRS) carbon reduced workshop “Chronobiology of COVID-19”). In this issue, we include three articles from panelists of this workshop, with topics related to virology and immunology, epidemiology and seasonality, and critical care.
We encouraged authors to explore many questions in these papers, and several seem quite promising for future societal benefit. For example, could judicious selection of time of administration benefit vaccination or treatments? Could the strong second wave of infection that is currently seen in various countries be evidence for a seasonality of COVID-19? Can chronobiology principles help with the assessment of symptoms, identification of individuals at risk of complications, and management and outcome of patients in critical care? Do populations with disrupted circadian rhythms, such as shift workers, experience worse consequence of SARS-CoV-2 infection?
We have come to realize the various heavy costs of this pandemic, including illness and death in our families and friends, dramatic impacts on our economies, and lasting trauma in our physicians and medical staff. We have also witnessed an unequal burden of child care and elder care in our society. Amidst these problems, many chronobiologists are asking “How can we help?” The reviews in this issue provide some examples of possible contributions, with principles that can help dealing with the current pandemic. For the longer term, this is also an opportunity to learn in real time about the impacts of biological rhythms on the epidemiology of infectious diseases, chronotherapy, and biological clocks as a link in the co-morbidity of infectious diseases and other health problems. This new knowledge will be of precious help in cases of future pandemic and other local and global health threats.
Moreover, since we believe that contributions from both junior and more experienced researchers will remain key to a lively research field, the Journal of Biological Rhythms has begun inviting reviews from new investigators, one of which appears in this issue, from Xiaodong Zhuang, on the circadian clock and viral infections; and secondly, we have invited Amita Sehgal to publish the text from her Pittendrigh-Aschoff lecture in June 2020, offering an inspiring personal narrative from a hugely successful colleague. We hope to continue to provide a venue for members of our Society to discuss our intersecting paths as we address local and global needs with our research.