Dr Annie Curtis focuses on sleep and its critical importance for proper immune function as well as the benefits it poses for mental health among other things in this presentation.

Dr Curtis is an associate professor at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Her research focuses on the role of the molecular clock (also known as body clock) on the immune system, in particular the inflammatory response. We are experiencing an epidemic of chronic inflammatory disease, such as diabetes, arthritis, obesity and cancer. With a fantastic team of postdocs and PhD students, her laboratory investigates whether disruption of our body clocks, due to our 24/7 lifestyle and erratic eating and sleeping patterns, is causing chronic inflammation and contributing to this epidemic of chronic inflammatory diseases.