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Frank A.J.L. Scheer, PhD, MSc

Associate Neuroscientist, Brigham and Women's Hospital
 Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Department of Medicine
Sleep Medicine
75 Francis Street
Boston, MA 02115

Research Narrative:

The severity of many diseases varies across the 24-hour period. For example, heart attacks occur most frequently in the morning a few hours after waking up, temporal lobe epileptic seizures of the brain's temporal lobe usually occur in the late afternoon or early evening, and asthma is generally worst at night. The goal of the Medical Chronobiology Program at Brigham and Women's Hospital is to understand the biological basis behind these time-variant changes in disease severity. We aim to determine whether or not these changes are caused by the body clock (the endogenous circadian pacemaker) or attributable to behaviors that occur on a regular daily basis, including the sleep/wake cycle. Understanding the biological basis of these changes across the day and night may provide an insight into the underlying cause of the disease and could lead to better therapy (e.g. appropriately timed medication to target specific phases of the body clock or to coincide with specific behaviors that cause vulnerability, such as exercise).
 
Education: University of Amsterdam, 2003, PhD
Utrecht University, 1997, MSc
 
Honors/Awards: Pickwick Postdoctoral Fellowship, National Sleep Foundation (2005)
Young Investigator Neurology Section Award, American Academy of Sleep Medicine (2005)
Alliance Chronosleep Award, European Sleep Research Society (2006)
Young Investigator Award, American Academy of Sleep Medicine (2007)
1st Place Clinical Research Young Investigator Award, National Sleep Foundation/Sleep Research Society (2008)
Neal Miller Award, Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research (2009)
Young Investigator Award, Honorable Mention, Sleep Research Society (2010)
 
Keywords (MeSH): Chronobiology Disorders
Fournier Gangrene
Saliva
Circadian Rhythm
Suprachiasmatic Nucleus
Melatonin
Light
Biological Clocks
 

Publications (Pulled from Harvard Catalyst Profiles):

1. Hu K, Meijer JH, Shea SA, Vanderleest HT, Pittman-Polletta B, Houben T, van Oosterhout F, Deboer T, Scheer FA. Fractal Patterns of Neural Activity Exist within the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus and Require Extrinsic Network Interactions. PLoS One. 2012; 7(11):e48927.

2. Scheer FA, Morris CJ, Garcia JI, Smales C, Kelly EE, Marks J, Malhotra A, Shea SA. Repeated melatonin supplementation improves sleep in hypertensive patients treated with beta-blockers: a randomized controlled trial. Sleep. 2012; 35(10):1395-402.

3. Jeyaraj D, Scheer FA, Ripperger JA, Haldar SM, Lu Y, Prosdocimo DA, Eapen SJ, Eapen BL, Cui Y, Mahabeleshwar GH, Lee HG, Smith MA, Casadesus G, Mintz EM, Sun H, Wang Y, Ramsey KM, Bass J, Shea SA, Albrecht U, Jain MK. Klf15 orchestrates circadian nitrogen homeostasis. Cell Metab. 2012 Mar 7; 15(3):311-23.

4. Morris CJ, Yang JN, Scheer FA. The impact of the circadian timing system on cardiovascular and metabolic function. Prog Brain Res. 2012; 199:337-58.

5. Morris CJ, Aeschbach D, Scheer FA. Circadian system, sleep and endocrinology. Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2012 Feb 5; 349(1):91-104.

6. Scheer FA, Michelson AD, Frelinger AL, Evoniuk H, Kelly EE, McCarthy M, Doamekpor LA, Barnard MR, Shea SA. The human endogenous circadian system causes greatest platelet activation during the biological morning independent of behaviors. PLoS One. 2011; 6(9):e24549.

7. Shea SA, Hilton MF, Hu K, Scheer FA. Existence of an endogenous circadian blood pressure rhythm in humans that peaks in the evening. Circ Res. 2011 Apr 15; 108(8):980-4.

8. Kalsbeek A, Scheer FA, Perreau-Lenz S, La Fleur SE, Yi CX, Fliers E, Buijs RM. Circadian disruption and SCN control of energy metabolism. FEBS Lett. 2011 May 20; 585(10):1412-26.

9. Hu K, Scheer FA, Laker M, Smales C, Shea SA. Endogenous circadian rhythm in vasovagal response to head-up tilt. Circulation. 2011 Mar 8; 123(9):961-70.

10. Chang AM, Scheer FA, Czeisler CA. The human circadian system adapts to prior photic history. J Physiol. 2011 Mar 1; 589(Pt 5):1095-102.

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