Together with colleagues from biology, design, and robotics, we are guiding 16 students from across MOME in exploring how circadian rhythms and adaptive lighting design can transform healthcare environments into biologically supportive spaces

This semester I am co-lecturing a new interdisciplinary course at MOME titled Human Biology as a Design Framework – Circadian Rhythm and Lighting. I am teaching alongside Dr. Krisztina Ella (molecular biologist at Semmelweis University, specializing in circadian biology and immunology), Balázs Püspök (Full Professor at MOME, Deputy Interim Rector, with over 18 years of experience teaching lighting design and product design), and Kálmán Tarr (media design, electronics, and researcher at the MOME Robotics Studio).

The course explores how light influences our bodies and how well-designed lighting systems can support regeneration, healing, and psychological balance. Students work in interdisciplinary teams to investigate how circadian rhythm can inform the design of lighting in therapeutic environments. This semester we are working with 16 students from various departments, reflecting the diversity of approaches and expertise required for such a complex design challenge.

Dr. Ella brings to the course her extensive research on the biological clock and its impact on physiology and health. Her work focuses on how circadian rhythms regulate immune cells, how environmental cues like light and feeding shape these rhythms, and how disruptions (such as social jetlag) affect wellbeing. This perspective grounds the course in cutting-edge biomedical knowledge, showing how design can meaningfully engage with human biology.

Drawing from biology, design, and technology, the course combines lectures, case studies, and hands-on prototyping. Using sensor-based systems, Arduino platforms, and TouchDesigner software, students learn how to capture and visualize environmental data in real time. This allows them to experiment with adaptive lighting systems that are not only technologically functional and aesthetically considered, but also biologically supportive.

In healthcare spaces, where patients’ internal rhythms are often disrupted, lighting can play a crucial role in recovery. By bridging design, biology, and engineering, students gain insight into how circadian-aware lighting can become an active medium for health.

This collaborative teaching format is also part of my broader research focus on design methods that integrate embodied knowledge, reflective practice, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

I look forward to sharing more about the students’ projects and outcomes as the semester progresses.