Located on Boston’s Rt 128 High Tech CorridorDr Martin Moore-Ede, a former professor at Harvard Medical School, and his biomedical engineering research team built this medical research center to identify and develop the optimal lighting for 24/7 operations. With funding from the National Institutes of Health and other supporters they designed and operated light-controlled medical research center with fully spectrally-controlled workplace and residential lighting, to study human volunteers living and working shifts around the clock.
As lighting with carefully controlled spectral content is delivered, a full range of physiological, psychological performance and medical tests are undertaken including
- Sleep and wakefulness with continuous EEG monitoring
- Blood tests (lipids, cardiac markers)
- Glucose Tolerance tests (Diabetes)
- 24-hour urine melatonin collection
- Salivary Melatonin 30-minute intervals
- Blood pressure
- Alertness & performance tests
- Mood and Depression scale test
Accomplishments
- Identification of narrow band of 440-490nm blue light which disrupts circadian clocks at night, and elucidation of the light-adapted circadian spectral sensitivity curve.
- Development of spectrally-engineered white light LEDs which remove critical blue wavelengths without causing yellow light.
- Testing of multiple light fixtures to determine which best optimize human health markers such as insulin resistance, melatonin levels and sleep
- Demonstration that blue depleted white light at workplace illumination levels can prevent the circadian disruption, melatonin suppression, excessive hunger and reduced vigilance caused by conventional blue-pump LEDs.
- Development and testing of control systems which track the natural sunrise and sunset across the seasons of the year, and keep interior lighting in-sync with the external environment
