DrRonan Lordan

Circadian rhythms are fundamental biological processes that orchestrate nearly every aspect of human physiology, from metabolism and immune function to cognition, mood, and cellular repair. When these daily rhythms are aligned, they help maintain metabolic homeostasis, support healthy aging, and protect against disease. However, modern society, through shift work, artificial light exposure, irregular sleep, and disrupted eating patterns, has placed unprecedented strain on the circadian system. This chronic misalignment is now recognised as a major contributor to metabolic disorders, cardiovascular disease, immune dysregulation, and neuropsychiatric illness.

My research is driven by a central question: how does disruption of the circadian clock accelerate aging and disease, and how can we counteract it?

Using a multimodal, collaborative, and interdisciplinary approach, I investigate how the molecular circadian clock shapes aging, metabolism, and neurobiology. Modern lifestyles have intensified global rates of obesity, cardiovascular disease, and metabolic syndrome, with poor diet, sedentary behaviour, and chronic circadian disruption acting as major drivers. These burdens fall disproportionately on shift workers and people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, a challenge that resonates deeply with me. Circadian dysregulation is also increasingly linked to neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders, potentially through pathways involving immune signalling and neuroinflammation.

Guided by these themes, my current research aims to:

• Define how loss of the circadian gene Bmal1 in immune cells contributes to bipolar disorder pathology, with a focus on neuroimmune and behavioural mechanisms.
• Examine whether exercise can rescue aging-related skeletal and cardiometabolic phenotypes resulting from antenatal and postnatal deletion of Bmal1.
• Investigate the role of the circadian clock in adipose-tissue macrophages during obesity, and how aging, diet, and exercise modulate their function.

In addition, I pursue several complementary lines of research:

• Mechanistic studies on prostaglandins and the FP receptor in skeletal-muscle physiology and aging, with implications for sarcopenia and metabolic decline.
• Evaluation of the pharmacology, efficacy, and regulation of nutraceuticals and dietary supplements.
• Development of novel therapeutics aimed at the platelet-activating factor (PAF) receptor and its associated metabolic enzymes.