According to WHO, there are 800.000 deaths by suicide every year and the number of suicide attempts is about 20 times higher. Suicide is the second leading cause of death amongst young adults worldwide. Several evidences suggest that suicidal behavior may be influenced by disruptions in circadian rhythms, which are based on sleep disturbances, associations with chronotypes and clock gene polymorphisms, circadian molecular markers, time of day and seasonal epidemiology and an important association with mood disorders. We study the association between circadian rhythms and suicidal behavior from a multidimensional perspective, which include clinical and epidemiological approaches, animal models, artificial intelligence and molecular biology. Besides understanding the neurobiology of suicidal behavior from a circadian disruption model, we aim to contribute to suicide prevention by identifying environmental and behavioral risk factors, propose chronoterapeutic preventive strategies and promote activities in the community and with populations at risk.
We investigate interindividual variability in internal time and sleep behavior from cognitive, behavioral and genetic perspectives in human populations. We have been identifying the contribution of polymorphisms in clock genes and genes involved in the systemic modulation of circadian rhythms, to circadian preference, sleep habits and personality traits associated with neuropsychiatric conditions. Also, we study how the interactions between circadian time and external factors modulate human cognitive abilities and behavior, from early stages of development through adulthood.
We are also interested in molecular aspects of circadian rhythms. We have been studying the contribution of microRNAs for the modulation of circadian rhythms, potential technical bias in circadian experiments, the organization of molecular clocks in the mammalian brain and the evolution of cellular oscillators.
