CSCN News Archives
2013
A study in the journal SLEEP shows Military service members who have trouble sleeping prior to deployments may be at greater risk of developing PTSD, depression and anxiety once they return home. Lead author Philip Gerham's study shows that assessment of insomnia symptoms predeployment may help identify those at highest risk for subsequent adverse mental health outcomes and plan appropriate treatment.
Dr. Ron Anafi and others in the Division of Sleep Medicine show that sleep is not just for the brain. See article in BMC Genomics.
Sleep 2013, Baltimore. June 1-5 Program
CSCN Research Retreat Award Winners 2013
CSCN 10th Annual Research Retreat Program
CSCN 10th Annual Research Retreat
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Keynote Speaker
Joseph Takahashi is Chair of the Department of Neuroscience and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He currently holds the Loyd B. Sands Distinguished Chair in Neuroscience.
Dr. Takahashi has pioneered the use of forward genetics and positional cloning in the mouse as a tool for discovery of genes underlying neurobiology and behavior, and his discovery of the mouse and human clock genes led to a description of a conserved circadian clock mechanism in animals.
Dr. Allan Pack gives the first Nirav P. Patel Keynote Address at the PA Sleep Society 5th Annual Meeting on May 4, 2013 at the Holiday Inn Hershey-Harrisburg. For more information
Center for Sleep researcher Michael Grandner, PhD, appeared on the Dr. Oz Show to discuss his study on diet and sleep. See a clip of the show here.
Read the study on sleep and diet here.
2012
CSCN Associate Director David Dinges is the senior author on a new study appearing in JAMA that shows that "power naps" for residents help fight fatigue.
A study in Current Biology shows that anesthetics work to cause unconsciousness in part by recruiting the brain's natural sleep circuitry. CSCN member Max Kelz, assistant professor in anesthesiology and critical care, is study author. Penn Medicine News
Ace Sleep Meeting - Epigenetics: Opportunities for Sleep and Circadian Research, October 3-5, 2012. Ace Conference Center, Lafayette Hill, PA.
Behavioral Sleep Medicine expert Dr. Phil Gehrman comments on UAB study on sleep and stroke risk on NBC Nightly News.
CSCN Research Retreat Award Winners
CSCN Annual Research Retreat, June 8, 2012 Program
Researchers in the lab of Amita Sehgal, PhD, professor of Neuroscience and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, found that in fruit flies dopamine acts to arouse flies through a protein called cryptochrome that normally functions as a photoreceptor. Read the article in Genes & Development.
CSCN Research Retreat 2012 Call for Abstracts.
Center for Sleep researchers find improved sleep with age according to survey. See article in SLEEP
The Wall Street Journal reports that scientists have identified potential biomarkers related to sleepiness. Nirmala Nirinjini Naidoo, PhD, associate professor of medicine, has found six proteins in the blood that change relative to sleepiness. Read WSJ article
New research from John Herr Musser Professor of Neuroscience Amita Sehgal, PhD, reported in Cell describes a molecular pathway that connects the clock neurons to cells governing rhythms of rest and activity in fruit flies. Read more
Center for Sleep researchers Michael Perlis and James Findley discuss the epidemic of insomnia among American women on ABC World News Tonight.
2011
Professor of Biology and CSCN Member Ted Abel discusses his research on the roots of memory impairment in sleep deprivation in June's Penn Current.
Sleep 2011 25th Anniversary Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, Minneapolis, MN
June 11-15, 2011.
CSCN Research Retreat 2011 Award Winners
CSCN 2011 Research Retreat Call for Abstracts
Sleep Health & Safety 2011, March 17-18
The National Sleep Foundation presents their annual dual track conference for healthcare professionals and researchers. For program and registration go to www.sleepfoundation.org/shs
Dr. Allan Pack and Sleep fellow Michael Grandner, PhD, are quoted in the ABC story on drowsy driving at http://abcnews.go.com/health
Penn Sleep Faculty will present at "Advances in Diagnosis and Treatment of Sleep Apnea and Snoring" February 18-20, 2011 at Disney's Boardwalk Inn Resort in Orlando, Florida. Program
2010
Dr. Teofilo Lee-Chiong, Chief of Sleep Medicine at National Jewish Health in Denver has published "The Best of Sleep Medicine 2010" a collection of journal articles and reviews that represent the major literature in 2009.
Namni Goel, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry has published a study showing healthy adults who carry a gene variant closely related to narcolepsy are more likely to have disrupted sleep. In this issue of Neurology.
What is the future of the academic sleep center? Faculty and staff of the Penn Sleep Center were asked this question and prizes awarded to the best essays. Michael Grandner, PhD, fellow in Sleep Research, and Indira Gurubhagavatula, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine were named the winners. Read the winning essay.
Penn Sleep psychologists James Findley, PhD, and Phil Gehrman, PhD, tell The Philadelphia Inquirer that people are unable to sleep when they make their bed more than a place to sleep. Read more.
Dr. Allan Pack is featured in the June 2010 issue of Sleep Review.
This year's keynote speaker for the Research Retreat is Prof Juliane Winkelmann, Assistant Medical Director Neurological Clinic, Institute of Human Genetics, University of Technology Munich. Prof Winkelmann will talk about "Genetics of Restless Leg Syndrome." Friday, May 21, 2010 in the Bodek Lounge in Houston Hall, 3417 Spruce St. For more information, go to Research Retreat.
The National Sleep Foundation will present Dr. Allan Pack with its Lifetime Achievement Award on Friday, March 5, 2010 at their annual meeting, "Sleep Health and Safety 2010."
The 16th Annual Advances in Diagnosis and Treatment of Sleep Apnea and Snoring will take place February 12-13, 2010, San Francisco, CA. Course outline.
2009
Penn Sleep researchers are featured in this issue of Science News, "The Why of Sleep," including Drs. Allan Pack, David Dinges, Amita Sehgal, Michael Perlis, Marcos Frank and Susan Harbison.
Chris Vescey of the Neuroscience Graduate Group under the mentorship of Biologist Ted Abel, has demonstrated that even brief sleep deprivation causes disruption of hippocampal function producing memory deficits. Read more in Nature.
An American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Challenge Grant was awarded to Dr. Nirinjini Naidoo, Research Assistant Professor in the Division of Sleep Medicine. "Biomarker for Sleep Loss: A Proteomic Determination" will explore changes in blood proteins that occur with sleep loss and determine whether there are differences between subjects who are resistant to the effects of sleep deprivation and those who show a marked behavioral response.
Dr. Amita Sehgal, the John Herr Musser Professor and Vice Chair of Neuroscience, has been elected as a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), one of the nation's highest honors in biomedicine. Read more...
Dr. Allan Pack is interviewed on ABC World News Tonight on new study on "short sleeper" gene.
Penn Sleep Psychologist Dr. Phil Gehrman is quoted in USA Today, in article on rare sleep disorder.
In Sleep Medicine Reviews, Dr. Jini Naidoo provides new evidence that modest sleep deprivation in aging induces cellular stress. Understanding the pathways activated by sleep loss and the mechanisms by which they occur will allow the development of therapies to protect the brain in sleep disorders including those associated with aging.
Dr. Allan Pack is interviewed for The Science Network at the Sleep 2009 meeting in Seattle, WA.
Research Retreat 2009; Research Retreat Award Winners
Dr. Allan Pack discusses "The Gears of the Sleep Clock" in this issue of The Scientist.
CSCN researchers show why sleep is needed to form memories. Drs. Marcos Frank and Sara Aton describe for the first time in Neuron how cellular changes in the sleeping brain promote the formation of memories.
2008
Dr. Allan I. Pack named the first John L. Miclot Professor of Medicine.
Visit ebriefing on The Sandman’s Secrets: Genetics and Gene Expression in Sleep Regulation held at the New York Academy of Sciences June 2008.
CSCN researchers identify sleep-promoting gene in Science. Also see Science's NewsFocus which gives an update on molecular sleep research.
Dr. Jini Naidoo shows in the Journal of Neuroscience that the unfolded protein response, an adpative response to stress due to sleep deprivation, is impaired in the brains of older mice. (more...).
Dr. Sigrid Veasey shows in Journal of Neuroscience that severely injured motoneurons from sleep apnea can be treated.
In Nature, Dr. David Raizen et al show worms have a sleep-like state .