Mary Harrington teaches courses in biological rhythms, Alzheimer’s disease and experimental methods in neuroscience. She conducts research on brain circuits regulating circadian (daily) rhythms, a topic dating from her doctoral work. Her interests expanded to include flexibility in circadian entrainment, effects of aging on the circadian system, and in recent years she has been investigating questions related to negative health impacts associated with disruption of circadian rhythms. A new interest is in understanding brain circuits mediating fatigue. She includes undergraduates in her research laboratory as they make new discoveries, and often these students co-author publications.

Selected Publications

A few recent publications reflecting the lab’s interest in neurobiology of fatigue:

Harrington ME (2012) Neurobiological studies of fatigue. Prog. Neurobiol. 99: 93-105.

Bonsall DR and Harrington ME (2013) Circadian rhythm disruption in chronic fatigue syndrome, Advances in Neuroimmune Biology, 4 (2013) 265-274. DOI 10.3233/NIB-130074.

Bonsall DR and Harrington ME (2015) Circadian regulation of arousal and its role in fatigue,  Circadian Medicine, C. Colwell (Ed), Wiley-Blackwell.

Our interest in circadian rhythms has led to new publications on effects of exercise in aging, and studies on coupling among cells in the liver:

Leise TL, Harrington ME, Molyneux PC, Song I, Queenan H, Zimmerman E, Lall GS, Biello SM (2013) Voluntary exercise can strengthen the circadian system in aged mice. Age, 35: 2137-2152.

Guenthner CJ, Luitje ME, Pyle LA, Molyneux PC, Yu JK, Li AS, Leise TL, Harrington ME (2014) Circadian rhythms of Per2::Luc in individual primary mouse hepatocytes and cultures, PLoS One, 9: e87573. Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0087573.