BBC Future spoke with Prof. Tami Martino from the Department of Biomedical Sciences, for an article examining how our internal circadian rhythms affect how our immune systems perform

Martino, the director of the Centre of Cardiovascular Investigations, explained that our physiology is different in the daytime compared to at night, which might mean that drugs and certain medical treatments need to be offered to patients at specific times to be most effective and cause the least harm.

She explained some of the research being performed on animal models in her lab to test some of these theories.

Circadian medicine, she said, “is right up there on the scale with things like gene therapy, stem cells and artificial intelligence for one of the most promising new technologies to deal with global burdens of disease.”

Martino is a professor of biomedical sciences at U of G’s Ontario Veterinary College.