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APSS Discussion Group Synopsis

SDRAB Meeting Recap

News & Announcements

SRS BULLETINSRS BULLETIN

I S S U E H I G H L I G H T S

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DISCLAIMER: The statements and opinions contained in editorials and articles in this publication are solely those of the authors thereof and not of the Sleep Research Society, or of the officers, regents, members or employees. The appearance of advertisements or services advertised or of their effectiveness, quality, or safety are solely those of advertisers.The Editor, the Sleep Research Society, and the officers, regents, members and employees disclaim all responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from any ideas or products referred to in articles or advertisements contained in this publication. © 2013 by the Sleep Research Society.

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SRS BULLETINSRS BULLETINEDITORJamie M. Zeitzer, PhDemail: jzeitzer@stanford.eduVA Medical Center, Palo AltoStanford University3801 Miranda Avenue, Suite 151YPalo Alto, CA 94304

ASSISTANT EDITOR - TRAINEE NEWSJared Saletin, PhDemail: jsaletin@gmail.comUniversity of California, Berkeley5316 Tolman HallBerkeley, CA 94704

LAYOUT & DESIGNJon Wendling

PRESIDENTJanet M. Mullington, PhD

PRESIDENT ELECTAllan I. Pack, MBChB, PhD

PAST PRESIDENTRonald S. Szymusiak, PhD

SECRETARY/TREASURERSean P.A. Drummond, PhD

DIRECTORS AT LARGEChristopher Drake, PhDJeanne Duffy, PhDDavid Gozal, MDElizabeth Klerman, MD, PhDJennifer Martin, PhDPaul Shaw, PhDFred Turek, PhD

TRAINEE MEMBER AT LARGEJared Saletin, PhD

SECTION HEADS

Basic Sleep ResearchJonathan Wisor, PhD

Circadian Rhythms ResearchDiane Boivin, MD, PhD

Sleep & Behavior ResearchWendy Troxel, PhD

Sleep Disorders ResearchRobert Thomas, MD

COMMITTEE CHAIRS

Educational Programs ChairJames Shaffery, DPhil

Government Relations ChairRonald S. Szymusiak, PhD

Membership & Communication ChairMichael Grandner, PhD

Research ChairAndrew Krystal, MD

Trainee Education Advisory ChairPhillip Gehrman, PhD

EXECUTIVE DIRECTORJerome BarrettSleep Research Society2510 North Frontage RoadDarien, IL 60561-1511

S R S L E A D E R S H I P

Contribute to the Future of Sleep & Circadian ResearchYour support of the Sleep Research Society Foundation is crucial to fostering the continued growth and development of our field by funding deserving investigators in sleep & circadian research and training young investigators.

Please consider making a donation online and support sleep and circadian research in 2013 and beyond. The next generation of investigators is counting on your support.

›› Donate now!

and counting towards researching sleep

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Table of ContentsPresident’s Message .....................................3

Editor’s Column ...........................................4

Trainee Corner .............................................5

Secretary-Treasurer’s Report .......................6

Committee Reports ......................................7

Sleep Research Funding Advocacy Update ...8

Section Reports ..........................................10

APSS Discussion Group Synopsis ............. 11

From the Desk at NIH ................................13

SDRAB Meeting Recap .............................15

INCOSACT ................................................17

News & Announcements ............................18

Domestic Laboratory Spotlight ..................19

International Laboratory Spotlight .............22

Early Stage Investigator Profiles ................25

New Members ............................................26

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

It is that time of year again: the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS) abstract deadline is approaching and the New Year is just around the corner. This issue of the Bulletin contains a wealth of news for you about activities of the SRS leadership and committees, who are working hard to provide services and create opportunities for our membership. I would like to thank all of the committee members and chairs, and section heads, for their hard work to achieve their respective objectives, and their efforts to keep us all well informed of their significant progress.

At our November Board of Directors Meeting, we discussed the importance of communication with and among the member-ship of our society. We were united in our commitment to work with the Membership and Communications Committee and the technology experts at society headquarters to make our website a more interactive and effective platform for members to share information with one another on current initiatives and new opportunities. To facilitate communication between the society leadership and members, we have set up a “President’s Blog” that will have regular updates comprising opinions, visions and ideas. This section of the website is now active, and I have posted a welcome message that includes population density maps to show you where our U.S. and international members are located.

In these tight fiscal times, resources are more difficult to access, making it a challenge to get new research and education

programs off the ground. Getting our message to the general public about the importance of sleep and circadian biology for the overall health and wellness of the population needs to be a priority for us, now more than ever. As a mechanism to achieve this aim, we joined with the American Academy of Sleep Medicine to respond to a call for proposals from the CDC to implement a collaborative program uniting stakeholders to increase public awareness about the importance of sleep. We are happy to report that this application was successful, and the program is taking shape as initial meetings are underway to launch the “National Healthy Sleep Awareness Project.” I will be using the SRS Updates and the SRS website to keep you posted on the progress of the project, so please expect to receive more details soon.

The Sleep Research Society, your premier society dedi-cated to research and research education, wants to hear from its members about initiatives you have launched and tools you have to share, so that we can maximize efficiencies by sharing resources. As we build networks and toolkits, CORES and partnerships, I invite you to share the information with others, so that our members benefit and grow stronger as a community of sleep and circadian researchers. Watch the SRS website as opportunities to share information become live over the coming weeks.

I wish you all success with your SLEEP 2014 abstract submis-sions, and I hope that your hard work is followed by a joyful holiday break and a Happy New Year.

Sincerely,

Janet Mullington, PhDSRS President

SRS President, Janet M. Mullington, PhD

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By Jamie Zeitzer, PhD

The leaves have turned colors and winter is upon us (though somehow, it is still 60° where I live now in California). School is in full swing and labs are rolling in new found NIH funding (okay, maybe not the latter). This Bulletin has several items that finish our recap of the Sleep meeting in June, as well as several other meetings, including the SDRAB and a confer-ence on energy drinks. The Bulletin also has a piece on the upcoming Gordon Sleep Conference, to which I urge you to consider applying. If you haven’t been to a Gordon conference before, they are most definitely worth your time. The egalitarian structure of the conference gives trainees a unique opportunity to interact with researchers at all career stages. One of the recur-ring themes that I’ve noticed in the items that we present to you in the Bulletin and in my own work and life is the deluge of information to which we are exposed. There are many demands on our time and we must thoughtfully weigh opportunity costs. One of the things I hope this bulletin provides is a bit of a respite from these demands by providing recaps of various meetings that looked great, might have been great, but to which we could just not get. There are usually links provided within the text, so you can read more if so inspired. Please let me know if you are going to an upcoming meeting or have been to one recently in which you think other SRS members might be interested. There are so many overlapping fields that encompass sleep research, it is impossible to keep up with them all, try as we might but we hope these recaps will help!

EDITOR’S COLUMN

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TRAINEE CORNER

How can I be involved in the SRS as a Trainee?

The SRS is more valuable to us then just allowing us to attend the annual SLEEP meeting. As trainees, it provides us a commu-nity; a community to learn with, from, and with whom to grow together. Yet the society also provides us ample opportunities to be involved—guiding and shaping the direction of the program-ming that is most relevant to us as trainees. In this column, I wanted to layout some of the opportunities, and how you can stay aware of them as they come up.

1) Join the Trainee SubcommitteeYou probably have seen those trainees collecting tickets during the Trainee events before the SLEEP meeting. Did you know they actually planned those events? Each year the SRS takes 12-15 graduate students, postdocs, fellows, or other trainees from around the world and tasks them with generating topics for the Trainee Symposium Series. This committee does far more than just collect tickets in June. This is a remarkable opportunity for us as trainees to tell the society which topics we want to hear about and from which speakers we want to hear them. Not only do trainees pick the topics, but they also nominate the speakers. The annual symposium series is truly an event put on for the trainees, by the trainees.

2) Nominate yourself or a colleague to be Trainee Member-at-LargeFor the past 6 months or so, I have had the pleasure of serving as Trainee Member-at-Large. Every year you are asked to vote for a trainee to fill this position (thank you, by the way!), but I am not sure that many trainees know what this position actually does. Besides being a great chance to meet and work with some of the leaders of the field this position offers you the greatest chance to directly affect the direction of trainee programming with the SRS. As Trainee Member-at-Large, I sit on both the Trainee Education Advisory Committee (TEAC) as well as the Board of Directors. I attend all meetings over the phone and in person. This is such a great opportunity to really learn the inner workings of the society. As I write this column, I have freshly returned from the autumn meeting of the Board of Directors at the SRS HQ in Darien, IL. It was a remarkable experience to see and listen to the how deci-sions are made, and I can tell you that the SRS is as committed to

strengthening trainee programming as they ever have been. The Trainee Symposium Series represents the single largest invest-ment the SRS makes, did you know that? Beyond sitting on these committees, the Trainee Member-at-Large chairs the Trainee Subcommittee that plans each year’s symposium series. I have met many great new friends and colleagues through this two-year experience (the first year as Member-at-Large-Elect), and it has truly been wonderful.

3) Join a Standing Committee as a Trainee MemberDid you know that the Trainee Member-at-Large is not the only committee position for trainees? Each standing committee of the SRS (e.g., Membership Committee, Research Committee, Communications Committee) actually includes one trainee member. If there is a particular committee that you think you are really passionate about (using novel social media, shaping research agendas, etc.) and you feel like you want to be involved in those processes within the society, these committees are wonderful opportunities to do so!

4) Tell us what you want or needThe best ideas for trainees often come from the trainees them-selves—in keeping with the spirit of the trainee series being planned by us. When I was recently at the SRS Board of Directors meeting, I was struck by how many directors were able to recall their time as trainees how they interfaced with the SRS back in those days. This shared history as SRS trainees has yielded a society that is incredibly open to hearing new ideas and sugges-tions. If there is something you feel would be a great program or opportunity for you or your peers, please let us know. You can email me or Jen Goldschmied (Trainee Member-at-Large-Elect), the members of TEAC or anyone at the SRS. We would love to hear your feedback.

As I approach the midpoint of my year as Trainee Member-At-Large, I am filled with hope and excitement to be a member of a society that places such focus and such dedication on its next generation of researchers. It is something that makes our society great. I hope you consider these opportunities and join in on shaping the society for years to come.

Jared Saletin, PhDTrainee Member-at-Large

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SECRETARY-TREASURER’S REPORT

I have been pleased to continue to serve the SRS and you, the members, as Secretary-Treasurer over the past year. As many of you know, our economy continues a bumpy and uneven, yet steadily moving, ride into recovery. Nonetheless, research dollars continue to be scarce, thanks to sequestration and continuing resolutions at the federal level and limitations in the private sector. In this context, allow me to present the current financial position of the SRS, as of September 30, 2013. Our current net assets are a little over $3,692,000, an increase of about $260,000 from the same time last year. The increase is due almost exclu-sively to an increase in the value of our investments, thanks to the balanced mix of investments in our portfolio.

The financial viability of the SRS moving forward depends critically on our ability to sustain our growth as a society, which will require the generation of new revenue and additional activities to raise public awareness. The SRS Board of Directors is actively engaged in a significant strategic planning effort, with the goal of finding ways to focus on our core values (supporting research and education in sleep science) and maintaining finan-cial stability moving forward. This is more difficult than ever, and this year we are likely to barely break even with our annual budget. Projections for future revenue suggest this may not be an isolated trend. Thus, we are taking a hard look at the affordability and value of all of our programs.

I would like to remind everyone our two biggest and most consistent sources of revenue are the annual meeting and member-ship dues. I encourage you to attend the annual meeting next year, scheduled for May 31-June 4, 2014 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Our revenue from the meetings is heavily dependent on member attendance, and thus it is critically important you attend and present your latest science. If you have already renewed your

membership for 2014, I thank you. If you have not, I encourage you to do so as soon as you can. Membership dues can be paid on the SRS webpage and starting this year, you can also make a dona-tion to directly support the Trainee Symposia Series. Please also encourage your colleagues to join the SRS and attend the meeting. Our field and our science are enriched when investigators from other fields collaborate and join our ranks, thereby providing a valuable fresh perspective to the science of sleep.

I also want to take this opportunity to inform the members about our financial oversight procedures. The Executive Committee and Board of Directors review and address the finances at every meeting (a minimum of eight times each year). Every year, our financial statements are audited by an independent firm, Porte Brown, and every year they provide impeccable feedback on the organization and accuracy of our financial accounting. We have our Executive Director, Jerry Barrett, to thank for that. In addi-tion, our investment advisors, MEDIQUS Asset Advisors, have designed our investment portfolio in such a manner as to weather the sometimes tumultuous market conditions. Our annual returns typically closely match the performance of the relevant market indices. I am in regular contact with our investment advisor and the Board has opportunities to speak with him as well. We are all working hard to make sure our society’s finances are as healthy as possible.

Let me close with thanking each and every member for your loyalty and support. The Sleep Research Society thrives because of our members and the Board is committed to maintaining a vibrant society that benefits you, our most valuable asset.

Sean Drummond, PhDSecretary-Treasurer

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COMMITTEE REPORTS

Membership and Communications CommitteeThe Membership and Communications Committee has been focused on maintaining and growing the number of SRS members and managing our public presence on the web and in social media. This year, we have been asking ourselves, “What makes the SRS vital? What makes SRS membership essen-tial? Why should new members join?” To maintain and grow membership, we have been focusing on ways to add value to the SRS and make sure that members are aware of the existing benefits of SRS membership. For example, we are planning ways to better educate new and prospective members about some of the truly valuable benefits of being an SRS member, which vary based on where you are in your career. Also, more targeted, specific member benefits are in the works. Look for

more in the coming months. In addition, we have been planning to engage members of other societies to join the SRS. We plan on targeting large organizations with areas of interest that overlap with sleep. In this way, we are not looking to steal members, but give members a chance to join the sleep research community as well. On the digital front, the SRS website continues to improve and we will be keeping an eye on the content to make sure that the information is current and useful. The Facebook page has been very successful, with >800 “Likes” (i.e., people subscribed to the news feed). We are also working on establishing a Twitter account and LinkedIn group page.

Michael A. Grandner, PhDChair, Membership and Communications Committee

Government Relations CommitteeThe Government Relations Committee met in Baltimore during SLEEP 2013 and reviewed the progress of initiatives from the previous year and discussed strategies for moving forward into 2014. The committee reviewed several outreach efforts at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2012 and early 2013, including visits with institute directors and program staff in late October 2012 and a meeting with Dr. Gary Gibbons, director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the following month. In December, the SRS sent representatives to a Congressional reception honoring Dr. Gibbons’ appointment as NHLBI Director. In early February 2013, the SRS and AASM organized a workshop in Bethesda on “Strategic Opportunities in Sleep and Circadian Research.” The workshop was attended by program staff from all of the institutes and centers that participate in the Trans NIH Sleep Research Coordinating Committee. A white paper based on the workshop will be published in the journal SLEEP early in 2014. Because of recent extensive outreach efforts at the NIH, the committee decided not to conduct NIH visits in the Fall of 2013, but delay visits until Summer/Fall 2014.

Since the June meeting of the Government Relations Committee, the SRS has been working with Health and Medicine Council of Washington (HMCW) to engage Congress and federal agencies to increase federal support for sleep and circadian research. In early June, SRS leadership visited the offices of legislators on key health committees including, including the Senate Labor-Health and Human Services-Education (L-HHS) Appropriations Committee and the House L-HHS Appropriations Committee.

In late June, the SRS co-hosted a Congressional briefing with Congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA), the American Thoracic

Society, NHLBI, AASM, and American Sleep Apnea Asso-ciation to brief members of Congress and their staff on the advancements and opportunities in the diagnosis and treatment of sleep-related breathing disorders and the importance of healthy sleep.

The SRS sent representatives to the Spring and Fall 2013 meet-ings of Sleep Disorders Research Advisory Board (SDRAB) to reinforce the society’s commitment to full implementation of the 2011 NIH Sleep Disorders Research Plan.

The next meeting of the Government Relations Committee will take place in mid-December 2013. Topics for discussion will including planning NIH visits for 2014, identifying how the SRS and AASM can work together to implement key recommenda-tions contained in the white paper on “Strategic Opportunities in Sleep and Circadian Research” and working with HMCW to draft sleep research and sleep public health legislation that includes a new or updated National Commission on Sleep Disor-ders Research.

The SRS Government Relations Committee encourages grass roots efforts by the membership to educate their legislators about the importance of sleep in public health and the importance of federal funding for sleep disorders research. This includes visits to district offices or to offices in Washington DC. The SRS and HMCW can provide advice and materials if you are planning a visit with your Congressman or Senator. Contact John Noel (jnoel@aasmnet.org) at the national office or Priyanka Surio (PSurio@hmcw.org) of HMCW for information.

Ron Szymusiak, PhDChair, Government Relations Committee

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SLEEP RESEARCH FUNDING ADVOCACY UPDATE

The Sleep Research Society (SRS) and the Health and Medicine Counsel of Washington (HMCW) have been working together to engage members of Congress and Federal Agencies to advance a legislative agenda focused on increasing federal support for sleep and circadian research activities by expanding opportunities in this area. Included below, please find a summary of advocacy activities undertaken since our last update in June. This report also summarizes recent successes and new initiatives in which SRS members can get involved.

Goal #1: Improve awareness of sleep disorders and the importance of sleep research among federal legislators and congressional staff.

• SRS leadership met with legislators on key health committees including the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Senate Labor-Health and Human Services-Education (L-HHS) Appropriations Subcommittee, House L-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee, and House Energy & Commerce Committee

• HMCW followed up with health staffers from each legislative visit and built relationships to provide further details about sleep research activities

• SRS co-hosted a briefing with Congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA-4), the American Thoracic Society, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the American Sleep Apnea Association, and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), to brief members of Congress on the advancements and opportunities in sleep health

• The prevalence and treatment of sleep apnea in the Veteran population was highlighted in a congressional briefing hosted by the Friends of VA Medical Care and Health Research (FOVA)

• HMCW met with the offices of Congressmen Johnson, Mike Honda (D-CA-17), Gus Bilirakis (R-FL-16), and Bill Foster (D-IL-11) to establish a plan for sleep research advocacy activities

• Congressman Honda contacted the Director of the National Institute on Aging and the Director of the NHLBI and requested an update on their Institutes’ response to the 2011 NIH Sleep Disorders Research Plan

Goal #2: Advocate for federal support of sleep research, research training and career development opportunities for sleep researchers and the establishment of academic sleep research alliances

• The release of the President’s FY 2014 budget request to Congress and the following Senate L-HHS budget included specific recommendations that support sleep research and public health awareness programs and the 2011 NIH Sleep Disorders Research Plan

• Action Alerts were disseminated to SRS members, asking them to reach out to their legislators and inform them of the need for increased funding for sleep research activities at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and implementation of the 2011 NIH Sleep Disorders Research Plan

• HMCW monitored the Congressional Record, the Federal Register, and general media sources for items of interest, including a funding opportunity announcement released by CDC to conduct sleep surveillance and awareness activities

• SRS and HMCW attended the NHLBI Advisory Council and discussed research training for new investigators, grants, and career development opportunities for sleep researchers

Goal #3: Encourage congressional awareness of and support for the activities of the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research (NCSDR) and the Trans-NIH Sleep Research Coordinating Committee

• During NCSDR’s Advisory Board (SDRAB) meeting, many NIH Institutes and Centers discussed how to increase awareness and importance of the sleep and circadian research portfolio

• During the SDRAB meeting, Institutes, Centers, and the Trans-NIH Sleep Research Coordinating Committee reported on their portfolio of sleep and circadian research activities, discussed inter-agency/trans-agency collaboration, and developed a plan for expanding data resources

• The responsibility of NCSDR and the Trans-NIH Committee to coordinate cross-institute sleep research activities was highlighted at the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) initiative briefing

• Congressman Honda has demonstrated awareness of and support for the NCSDR and the Trans-NIH Committee and requests to be briefed on their activities by the Director of NHLBI as they relate to the 2011 NIH Sleep Disorders Research Plan

Goal #4: Identify current programs and opportunities to promote sleep research throughout the federal government, including executive agencies (such as the Department of Transportation, Department of Defense, Department of Labor, and the Department of Education) and the CDC.

• There are opportunities to align sleep and circadian research with the administration’s priorities through NIH-wide cross-collaboration on the BRAIN initiative

• HMCW worked with stakeholders to advance the nomination of narcolepsy as a condition for individual review through the Food and Drug Administration’s new Patient-Focused Drug Development Initiative (PFDDI). SRS supported the Unite Narcolepsy initiative to educate and empower patient advocates by informing their narcolepsy patients about the PFDDI

• SRS and AASM received a grant from the CDC to address the burden of insufficient sleep and prevent sleep disorders through sleep promotion and sleep disorder prevention awareness

• The relationship of healthy sleep to drowsy driving, school performance, military readiness, and working times was discussed during congressional visits with SRS leadership

Continued on the following page →

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SLEEP RESEARCH FUNDING ADVOCACY UPDATE

Potential Initiatives

Sleep Research and Public Health Awareness Legislation• HMCW and SRS drafted sleep research and public health

awareness legislation that incorporates a sense of Congress that directors of NIH and CDC should continue their work to advance sleep research and health

• Include either a new or updated National Commission on Sleep Disorders Research

• Plan to reach out to legislators to sponsor and co-sponsor the draft legislation so it can be introduced as a bill

Collaboration with Department of Transportation & Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

• Recent sleep screening legislation (H.R. 3095), authorizing the Department of Transportation (DOT) to require that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) go through a formal rulemaking process involving all medical/research/relevant stakeholders before issuing new regulations

for truck drivers to undergo sleep screening tests, was signed into law by the President

• SRS members can use the passage of H.R. 3095 as an opportunity to get involved in the process and to be seen as a resource to the DOT, FMCSA, and the American Truckers Association

Grassroots Advocacy Efforts• Message to SRS membership to gauge willingness to

participate in grassroots efforts and instruct those interested on how to plan and prepare for a visit with legislators

• Identify senators and representatives who are potentially sympathetic to the SRS message of increasing support for federal sleep research activities and have legislators look to SRS members as the experts on issues regarding sleep health and research

Dale Dirks and Priyanka SurioHealth and Medicine Counsel of Washington

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SECTION REPORTS

Circadian Rhythms Research Section The SRS Circadian Rhythms Research Section met in Baltimore on Tuesday June 4th, 2013. The circadian rhythms SRS section is seen as the ideal research group to bridge the gap between funda-mental research and circadian sleep medicine. At the meeting, we pursued our discussions on the priorities identified during the prior year with a main focus on trainees, young investigators, and on ways to enhance communications within and outside of our research group. Our meeting ended with a datablitz series during which 10 trainees gave short presentations on their APSS 2013 abstracts on circadian rhythms.

We also discussed the importance of supporting initiatives that comprise a translational approach and extend from basic to clinical areas. With that in mind, I had the opportunity to discuss possible initiatives to increase such interactions with

Drs. R. Robert Auger and Katherine Sharkey, the 2013 Head and incoming Head of the AASM Circadian Section, respectively. Hopefully, we will be able to implement some of these initiatives at the 2014 APSS meeting in Minneapolis.

Circadian Rhythms Research Section members are encouraged to contact me with ideas for discussion at next year’s section meeting in Minneapolis. If you are interested in becoming more involved in the SRS, volunteer now for an SRS committee by going to the SRS website and completing the volunteer form at https://www.sleepresearchsociety.org/volunteer.aspx. Finally, if you are a senior investigator, please encourage your students and trainees to come to the section meeting with you in 2014.

Diane B. Boivin, MD, PhDSection Head

Sleep and Behavior Research Section Currently, we have 422 members in the Sleep and Behavior Research Section. Although we did not see all 422 of you at the meeting of the Sleep and Behavior Research Section at the SLEEP meeting last June, we still had a great turn-out. Those who attended were treated to fascinating presentations from several Early Career Investigators who have been awarded K Awards from various institutes within the National Institutes of Health. It was exciting to hear about both the training goals and ambitious research plans of these investigators, all of whom have research and training focused on the intersection of sleep and behaviors. Specifically, we heard from Dr. Kelly Glazer-Baron (Northwestern University; Primary Mentor: Dr. Phyllis Zee), who described her NHLBI-funded K23 project on the association between circadian timing and misalignment with body fat distribution and obesity related behaviors; Dr. Michael Grandner (University of Pennsylvania; Primary

mentor: Dr. Allan Pack) described his NHLBI-funded research on sleep duration and cardiovascular risk factors; and Dr. Sara Nowakowski (University of Texas Medical Branch; Primary mentor: Dr. Rachel Manber), who described her NINR-funded research that integrates cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia with cognitive behavioral therapy for hot flashes and evaluates the effects of the combined interventions (delivered by nurses in gynecology clinics) on sleep and menopausal symptoms. Collectively, these talks demonstrate the breadth, innovation, and impact of research being conducted by our early stage investigators. We are grateful to the presenters for their contribution to our section meeting and for all of the members who attended. Looking forward to seeing you this June!

Wendy M. Troxel, PhDSection Head

Sleep Disorders Research Section Do we need a Sleep Disorders Research Section in the SRS? SRS and AASM members have their specific area of interest. There are only so many hours during the annual sleep meeting and so much to do between attending sessions (often in parallel), meeting friends, catching up and not much time left to attend section meetings. A section is of little use if there is no advance-ment of the core mission, which here is presumably clinical sleep research (research on sleep disorders). The 2013 section meeting was attended by 5 persons, and 2 of them were not even section members. The mailing list has over 200 members of the section, so there is clearly something is “lost in translation.”

The challenges of moving sleep medicine ahead and our own busy lives are a difficult mix. Progress today, however, often needs interacting networks, and here the SRS and the section members can create a unique and effective resource—a network of researchers with a focus on clinical sleep disorders. This

would require hosting a site by the SRS (or one or more volun-teer members of the section) that enables individual researchers to post interests and link like-minded individuals. Many or most of these attempts will probably come to nothing, but in time a new interactive research framework should emerge. There are innumerable unanswered or controversial questions in the general area of sleep disorders that could use such a crowd sourcing approach. Sure, challenges of funding, IRB, authorship, and so on are readily apparent, but small contributions from many individ-uals/sleep centers for an individual question, and small contribu-tions from an individual member/sleep center to several different questions can quickly become something quite powerful. Are we up to this challenge? If not, I am afraid that being part of a section will at best serve some vague social purpose only.

Robert Thomas, MDSection Head

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APSS DISCUSSION GROUP SYNOPSIS

Translating Sleep and Circadian Research Advances into Clinical Practice

The past few decades of sleep and circadian research have yielded many exciting discoveries about the pervasive nature of sleep deficiency in society, the contribution of sleep deficiency to the risk of morbidity and mortality, biological mechanisms under-lying sleep/circadian regulation, and health outcomes affected by treating sleep deficiency and disorders. While these advances point to numerous opportunities moving forward with basic and clinical research, many research advances remain to be translated into state-of-the art medical practice. This discussion group was designed to facilitate constructive discussion of opportuni-ties, strategies, and barriers to translating sleep and circadian discoveries into state-of-the art medical practice. The discussion included consideration of where broad medical consensus may be achieved with regard to fundamental concepts (e.g., sleep health), and the development of improved treatment strategies and goals based on advances in sleep and circadian research. The session was organized around learning objectives, with panelists assigned to facilitate the discussion of these objectives:

• Discuss the consensus and divergence of viewpoints regarding strategies to accelerate the translation of advances in sleep and circadian science into clinical practice.

• Discuss research advances pointing to new ways sleep medicine may protect health and prevent disease.

• Identify gaps, opportunities, and priorities for research that will advance clinical medicine and public health.

The co-chairs of the discussion group were Phyllis Zee, MD, PhD, Northwestern University and Aaron D. Laposky, PhD, NHLBI. Panel discussants were: Allan Pack, MD, University of Pennsylvania; Daniel Buysee, MD, University of Pittsburgh; Michael Vitiello, PhD, University of Washington; Thomas Roth, PhD, University of Michigan; Judith Owens, MD, Children’s National Hospital.

Dr. Laposky began the general discussion by providing an overview of the rationale and objectives of the discussion group (noted above). He pointed to the accumulation of scientific discoveries in recent years that have established links between sleep deficiency and a range of adverse health risks and outcomes. An aim of this discussion group was to consider opportunities to translate these findings into medical practice and to discuss a collective vision regarding the scientific and public health goals for the field of sleep/circadian science.

Dr. Zee presented an overview of The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society’s ‘Joint Task Force on Sleep and Circadian Research’. The Task Force was created to develop strategies to implement research goals identified in the 2011 NIH Sleep Disorders Research Plan (www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/prof/sleep/sleep_splan.htm). The Joint Task Force has engaged the sleep and circadian scientific community, the National Institutes of Health, and other key stakeholders to develop consensus around the highest priority opportunities to translate sleep and circadian science to impact medical practice and public health. As a key step in this strategic process, the Joint Task Force held a conference in February, 2013 (Bethesda, MD) and four major research and training goals were identified: 1) address the health and societal impact of sleep deficiency and

circadian dysfunction; 2) develop new approaches to improve the outcomes of treatment of sleep and circadian disorders and to address this in the context of personalized patient-centered care and healthcare disparities; 3) establish research networks and informatics infrastructure; and 4) sleep and circadian research training. The Task Force plans to publish a white paper summa-rizing the conference discussion and goals for consensus develop-ment. Dr. Zee emphasized that this is an exciting time to realize the transformative potential of sleep and circadian science for improving health in America and worldwide.

Dr. Buysse’s discussion focused on the novel construct of ‘sleep health’. Sleep medicine has traditionally focused on the definition, identification and treatment of sleep problems and sleep disorders. This approach implicitly accepts a “negative” definition of health, i.e., sleep health is the absence of sleep disor-ders or sleep deficiency. There may be value to adopting a “posi-tive” definition of sleep health. Although a sizable proportion of the population has a sleep disorder, everyone has some degree of sleep health. Sleep health emphasizes sleep patterns that reduce risk for cardiovascular, metabolic, and neuropsychiatric disorders. Sleep health is consistent with current trends in medicine that emphasize accountable care, health promotion, and population health. Thus, it may be useful for the field to develop a consensus definition of sleep health, and self-report or objective methods to measure it. Existing data sets could be used to provide prelimi-nary validation of such definitions and measurements. Self-help, behavioral, medical, and educational strategies (i.e., dissemina-tion research) could be developed to promote sleep health, and to determine how improved sleep health may relate to function, quality of life, comorbid conditions, and health care costs. The promotion of sleep health is already being aided by new techno-logical approaches, such as wearable monitors (for activity, EEG) and personal electronic devices (web, smart phone apps). Devel-opment of new models of care, such as collaborative care models and the use of health “coaches” could further advance this agenda.

Dr. Pack discussed strategies to advance translational research in sleep and circadian science by leveraging ‘big data’ opportu-nities, integrating clinical sleep medicine with electronic health resources, and establishing sleep research networks to coordinate and harmonize valuable data sources. While decades of research has established the association between sleep deficiency (e.g., sleep apnea, short sleep duration, shift work) with numerous health risks, opportunities to advance sleep-related disease outcome and clinical trial research will need to include the use of innovative strategies for data collection and integration. These may involve the use of sleep research networks, electronic health records, and data resource programs to provide standardized approaches for data sharing and wide-spread accessibility of sleep data linked to other health-related data. The interrogation of robust clinical data integrated with omics information will be needed to move sleep into the realm of personalized medicine. Biomedical research is witnessing a boom in mobile health technologies, with the potential for large-scale sleep phenotyping in diverse settings and demographics. Dr. Pack also noted the potential of patient centered research to open avenues for conducting pragmatic clinical trials (e.g., comparative effectiveness research) and investigating the

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APSS DISCUSSION GROUP SYNOPSIS

impact of sleep deficiency and interventions on patient-focused outcomes. The Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI, www.pcori.org) has prioritized numerous objectives for patient centered research, and may be a potential source for sleep and circadian funding. In summary, scientific priorities that align with the use of ‘big data’, research networks, electronic health records, and patient centered outcomes, hold promise for trans-lating sleep and circadian science into medical practice.

Dr. Roth discussed priorities for translational, clinical trial research for insomnia associated with comorbid conditions. Behavioral and pharmacological insomnia clinical trials have traditionally focused on patients with primary insomnia and have collected data primarily on sleep-centered outcomes. More recently, insomnia clinical trials have begun examining comorbid insomnia, and the potential of insomnia treatment to improve the status of comorbid conditions, primarily on major depressive disorder, chronic pain conditions, menopause, shift work, and generalized anxiety disorder. Dr. Roth noted that future trials are needed to determine the degree to which insomnia therapies impact respective comorbid conditions directly (e.g., benzodiaz-epine receptor agonists in depression), and how improvements in sleep health (e.g., sleep duration, quality, timing) contribute to outcomes of comorbid conditions. In evaluating the efficacy of insomnia therapy, greater focus is needed on overall improvement that the patient experiences, rather than simple quantification of specific symptoms. Examples of assessment tools could include the Patient Global Inventory and the Insomnia Severity Index. Improving our understanding of how treating sleep disorders (i.e., insomnia) improves associated domains of health (i.e., comorbid conditions) is an important direction for translating sleep and circadian science into the broader field of medical practice.

Dr. Vitiello offered two lines of commentary, (1) new directions for cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) and (2) the relationships between disturbed sleep and circadian rhythms and aging. His comments on the future of CBT-I research were based, in part, on a recent guest editorial co-authored with Drs. Susan McCurry and Bruce Rybarczyk (Journal of Clinical Psychology, in press). The efficacy of CBT-I to improve short and long-term outcomes in both uncomplicated and comorbid insomnia with minimal to no side-effects is well established. Further demonstra-tions of treatment efficacy, per se, in additional comorbid insomnia populations are not likely to the best use of limited energy and resources. Rather, refining CBT-I techniques and methods of delivery to optimize their efficacy and effectiveness would be a better goal for the field. Research priorities for CBT-I research include (a) examining the effectiveness of CBT-I in real world settings, such as primary care, (b) expanding training and dissemi-nation of CBT-I to a wider cadre of practitioners in the health care system, (c) elucidating potential additive benefits of CBT-I for enhancing quality of life through improved sleep, and through the impact of improved sleep on comorbid conditions, and (d) testing the impact of CBT-I on healthcare utilization and related costs. Dr. Vitiello also discussed the potential role that disturbed sleep and circadian rhythms may play in age-related morbidity. Evidence supporting a causal relationship of sleep deficiency to

the pathophysiology of metabolic syndrome and diabetes continues to grow. Considering the rapid growth of the aging population, research is urgently needed to more fully understand the contribu-tion of sleep and circadian deficiency, as well as treating sleep disorders, on accelerated aging and aging-related disease.

Dr. Owens’ discussion focused on research priorities for pedi-atric sleep and circadian science. She discussed novel research opportunities to delineate the impact of maternal circadian rhythms and environmental exposures on fetal, newborn, and infant development and health. Research priorities include exam-ining the impact of maternal sleep deficiency (e.g., sleep depriva-tion, shift-work, sleep disorders) on in utero growth and devel-opment, adverse pregnancy outcomes, and the risk of disease later in life. Research is also needed to characterize modifiable factors impacting the trajectory of circadian sleep-wake rhythm development in infancy, including maternal-child variables (e.g., the social 24-hr day), maternal affective states (e.g., depression), feeding schedules, and light exposure. Research is urgently needed to improve our understanding of circadian rhythms and sleep deficiency in the etiology and treatment of childhood and adolescent mental health disorders (e.g., depression, anxiety, ADHD, substance abuse), neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., autism spectrum disorder) and chronic medical conditions (e.g., cardiac, respiratory, allergic/immunologic, oncologic). Oppor-tunities for translational research include investigating how delivering medications at certain times of day (i.e., chronophar-macology) improves the effectiveness of existing treatments or how applying circadian discoveries may result in novel treat-ments of childhood and adolescent disease. Another research direction could involve examining the impact of timing, dura-tion, and intensity of light exposure on outcomes in hospitalized children, particularly in the intensive care unit. The mismatch between adolescent sleep patterns and early school start times has raised concerns regarding the potential long-term impact on student health, safety and performance. Important questions have emerged regarding the need for and impact of delaying school start times for middle and high school students as a public health issue. Based on recent evidence that the use of exogenous mela-tonin in children is on the rise, research is indicated on the use of melatonin in the pediatric population, how melatonin compares in efficacy with other hypnotic/sedative medications, which pedi-atric patient populations are most likely to respond to melatonin or to be contra-indicated and what clinicians should recommend in terms of timing, dose, preparation type, duration of treatment and possible withdrawal effects.

Aaron D. Laposky, PhDNHLBI

Phyllis Zee, MD, PhDNorthwestern University

Daniel Buysee, MDUniversity of Pittsburgh

Allan Pack, MDUniversity of Pennsylvania

Thomas Roth, PhDUniversity of Michigan

Michael Vitiello, PhDUniversity of Washington

Judith Owens, MDChildren’s National Hospital

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Summary of the NIH Workshop on the Use and Biology of Energy Drinks: Current Knowledge and Critical Gaps

An NIH workshop, “The Use and Biology of Energy Drinks: Current Knowledge and Critical Gaps” was held on August 15 and 16, 2013, in Bethesda, MD. The workshop was sparked by the rapidly increasing consumption of energy drinks and interest in their claimed effects on alertness, fatigue, cognitive function, physical energy, and weight loss or maintenance. These purported properties have potential public health benefits and risks that demand rigorous research, as well as the potential to shed light on a number of additional critical biological and behavioral research questions.

Given the variety of energy products on the market, the workshop organizers elected to focus on energy drinks that claim to increase mental or physical energy, and that contain caffeine, amino acids, vitamins, herbal supplements, and sugar or other sweeteners. These energy drinks represent the largest and fastest growing component of the US beverage market with sales reaching $12 billion in 2012. At least half of energy drink consumers are reportedly under 25 years of age. Despite increasing consumption of energy drinks, published data on the biological effects of many of the ingredients (other than caffeine) are limited, as is published research on the effects of combina-tions of ingredients or whole products.

Heightened interest in research on energy drinks has also been motivated by a recent report of 20,783 emergency department visits involving energy drink consumption (January 2013 Drug Abuse Warning Network). This represents a doubling of cases between 2007 and 2011. An Institute of Medicine (IOM) “Work-shop on Potential Health Hazards Associated with Consumption of Caffeine in Food and Dietary Supplements” (www.iom.edu/~/media/Files/Activity%20Files/Nutrition/PotentialEffectsofCaf-feine/Agenda2.pdf), held in Washington, D.C., on August 5 and 6, 2013, had a strong focus on populations vulnerable to or at higher risk from exposure to caffeine, with emphasis on cardio-vascular effects.

The NIH workshop, led by the Office of Dietary Supplements and the National Center for Sleep Disorders Research at the NIH, was organized with substantial advice and/or support from a number of NIH Institutes and Centers, including the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, as well as from colleagues at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

The goal of the workshop was to bring together subject matter experts to summarize the relevant research and highlight the most critical research gaps. Research areas addressed in the NIH workshop included:

• Prevalence and patterns of energy drink and caffeine consumption;

• Reasons for use of energy drinks by children and young adults, as well as members of the military;

• Potential for energy drink use to contribute to health disparities; and

• Effects of energy drinks on nutrient and muscle metabolism, and on behavior and cognitive and physical function.

To provide context for discussions of biological effects of energy drinks, Dr. Regan Bailey (Office of Dietary Supple-ments, NIH) and other speakers early in the workshop provided an analysis of the available data on prevalence and patterns of use of energy drinks. Data from several national surveys show relatively low levels of use, while surveys of college students, bar patrons, and the military suggest much higher levels of use in these populations. Dr. Michael Grandner (University of Penn-sylvania) presented data on energy drink use by minorities that suggest significant variation between populations and geographic areas both globally and within the US.

Drs. Mary Carskadon (Brown University), David Dinges (University of Pennsylvania) and Judith Owens (Children’s National Medical Center) summarized some of the developmental and social factors that may lead adults (especially young adults), children, and adolescents to consume energy drinks. Motivations to use energy drinks included the perceived need to increase alertness or energy at school or work, and while studying, social-izing, or participating in sports. Dr. Dinges and NIDA’s Dr. Jag Khalsa reviewed data on the mechanisms of action of caffeine in the central nervous system. Drs. Nancy Wesensten (Walter Reed Army Institute of Research) and Mark Stephens (Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences) summarized data on the use of energy drinks in the military, as well as some of the attempts to minimize adverse effects of caffeine on the sleep of off-duty personnel. Drs. Amelia Arria (University of Maryland) and Cecile Marczinski (Northern Kentucky University) discussed the prevalence of use of energy drinks in combination with alcohol, and the limited data on interactions between caffeine and alcohol in modulating alertness and risk behaviors. Dr. Emma Childs (University of Chicago) summarized the literature on the effects of caffeine, energy drinks, and other energy drink ingredi-ents on mood and behavior. Dr. Heekyung Hong (Northwestern University) summarized data on the molecular mechanisms linking circadian cycle with metabolism of carbohydrates and

FROM THE DESK AT NIH

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FROM THE DESK AT NIH

fats, and the potential for caffeine to modulate the metabolism and bioactivities of these dietary constituents. Finally Drs. Ricardo Mora-Rodriguez (University of Castilla-La Mancha), Terry Graham (University of Guelph) and Jane Shearer (Univer-sity of Calgary) summarized data on the effects of caffeine and energy drinks on metabolism, especially in skeletal muscle, and on muscle performance.

Speakers noted that data on the effects of energy drinks (and especially on the contributions of energy drink ingredients other than caffeine) on alertness, fatigue, cognition, mood, sleep, alcohol consumption, behavior, circadian rhythm, metabolism, and muscle function are limited. Areas where speakers cited pressing needs for more or finer-grained data included prevalence and patterns of energy drink consumption and effects of caffeine and energy drinks on circadian rhythms, alertness, learning, performance and sleep.

Next stepsThe workshop organizers will be posting speakers’ Powerpoint presentations (these will be available via the ODS website (http://ods.od.nih.gov/). A dedicated journal issue with papers based on the workshop presentations is in preparation. A sympo-sium entitled, “Energy Drinks: Current Knowledge and Critical Research Gaps,” accepted for the April 2014 Federation of Amer-ican Societies of Experimental Biology meeting, will provide an opportunity for experts, including several speakers from the 2013 NIH workshop, to present relevant data generated since that meeting.

Barbara C. Sorkin, PhDDirector, Botanical Research Centers ProgramOffice of Dietary SupplementsNational Institutes of Health

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SDRAB MEETING RECAP

Sleep Disorders Research Advisory Board Meeting, September 23, 2013

The Sleep Disorders Research Advisory Board (SDRAB) public meeting—the second for this calendar year—took place at the NIH campus in Bethesda, MD on September 23, 2013. The SDRAB and its meetings are chartered by the Congress of the United States as a part of the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research established within the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at the NIH in 1993.1 According to the charter, the membership of the Board includes eight representatives of sleep health and science disciplines, four persons who undergo treatment for sleep disorders or represent such persons or patient groups, as well as designated representatives of the NHLBI, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Aging, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and five other ex officio representatives of the NIH and other branches of the US government. Representatives of nearly all NIH institutes and centers that form the trans-NIH Sleep Research Coordina-tion Committee, an internal group that formed prior to the estab-lishment of the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research, attend SDRAB meetings and time is set aside for their comments and reports on the research programs and other activities occur-ring in their respective institutes that pertain to sleep health and sleep research.

The leading theme of the September meeting was “Big Data” - its collection, organization and use towards advancement of sleep health and sleep research. Within this topic, Dr. Jennie Larkin of the NHLBI presented the new NIH initiative known under the acronym “BD2K”, which stands for Big Data to Knowledge. She discussed the great diversity of large databases, both existing and envisaged, and how their better standardization, sharing, dissemi-nation and mining is seen at the NIH as offering great potential for a quantum leap in biomedical discovery and its translation into the practice of sleep medicine. Among the steps towards achieving this goal, NIH sees a need for enhanced training of scientists in bioinformatics, as well as creation of new networks of centers designated to take a leading role in “Big Data” collec-tion, storage and analysis using tools of which many are yet to be developed. Within the same topic, Dr. Phyllis Zee who attended the meeting as one of the Sleep Research Society representatives

1. Additional information about SDRAB, including the rooster and minutes of prior meetings can be found at: www.nhlbi.nih.gov/meetings/sdrab

reported on recent initiatives in the European Union leading to what is envisaged as “The Human Sleep Project” (Roenneberg. Nature 2013;498:427-428). The proponents of the project argue that broad data about human sleep patterns and the associated health conditions need to be collected “in the field” from millions of people world-wide as a necessary step towards full integration of sleep science and sleep medicine with other health disciplines. It is believed that the internet and social media will play important roles in this initiative. While excitement was palpable, concerns also were expressed about significant privacy issues surrounding the collection and use of data on such a massive scale.

Another presentation related to the subject of “Big Data” was given by Dr. April Oh of the Behavioral Research Program at the NIH. Dr. Oh described the FLASHE study (Family Life, Activity, Sun, Health and Eating), which is a cross-sectional, internet-based population survey coordinated by the National Cancer Institute (http://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/Brp/hbrb/flashe.html). Impor-tantly for sleep health, the survey includes sections on sleep habits.

Another subject presented and discussed was related to the bidirectional interactions between sleep and pain. Dr. Lee Alekel of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medi-cine described a proposal to engage representatives of the trans-NIH Sleep Research Coordination Committee and the trans-NIH Pain Research Consortium in the organization of a workshop devoted to the topic. It is envisaged that the workshop will better define neurobiological systems common to sleep and pain and point out key gaps in knowledge which, in turn, will help set new research directions and priorities for the NIH.

As usual at SDRAB meetings, Dr. Michael Twery, Director of the Center on Sleep Disorders Research presented an overview and update on NIH-supported sleep disorders research in the context of the goals outlined in the 2011 NIH Sleep Disorders Research Plan and discussed the metrics by which NIH catego-rizes NIH-supported research related to sleep and its disorders. According to 2012 data (latest available), there has been a consid-erable increase in new projects funded within the areas related to Goals 3 and 5 of the Sleep Disorders Research Plan (sleep medicine and training of workforce for sleep research). Of note, among the new research programs related to sleep health, the large trans-NIH study titled “New Mom To Be” (or NuMoM2B) includes a sub-section specifically targeting sleep issues. Sepa-rately, several new programs address sleep and cardiovascular/metabolic health in pregnancy. A steady, 30%, drop in car crashes related to drowsy driving-related car accidents observed between years 2005 and 2011 was described as a case of convergence

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SDRAB MEETING RECAP

of basic and population research with policy and technology changes leading to a dramatic improvement in population health and wellbeing.

Of a special note at the September meeting was also the opening presentation by Dr. James P. Kiley, Director of the Lung Division at the NHLBI. Dr. Kiley provided an inspiring presentation that emphasized the tremendous progress in sleep research and sleep medicine made over the past 20 years (since the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research was established and first sleep research plans formulated), with which all in atten-dance wholeheartedly agreed. He also unequivocally stated that large programmatic and organizational changes will likely occur at all levels within the NIH in view of uncertainties about future funding levels and models of research funding. In the anticipated era of limited resources and policy changes, all constituencies representing sleep medicine – scientists, professional organiza-tions, patient groups, community representatives – need to form partnerships and express their coordinated needs at all levels in order to maintain and strengthen the position of sleep research and sleep medicine on the map of NIH priorities. He called on sleep and circadian researchers to put forth transformative and paradigm-shifting new research ideas.

Dr. Twery highlighted as a landmark accomplishment for the sleep field the recent Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) adoption of “Sleep” as a standalone topic area in the Healthy People 2020 initiative (www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/overview.aspx?topicid=38). The document recently presented for public discussion, includes four major objectives concerned with sleep: (1) increase the proportion of

persons with symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea who seek medical evaluation; (2) reduce the rate of vehicular crashes per 100 million miles traveled that are due to drowsy driving; (3) increase the proportion of students in grades 9 through 12 who get sufficient sleep; and (4) increase the proportion of adults who get adequate sleep. A broad and constructive participation of sleep researchers and clinicians in the ongoing discussion is vital for ensuring a strong representation of sleep health in the final Health People 2020 document.

Submitted by:

Leszek Kubin, PhDResearch Professor of PhysiologyUniversity of Pennsylvania lkubin@vet.upenn.edu

Sairam Parthasarathy, MDAssociate Professor of MedicineUniversity of Arizonaspartha@arc.arizona.edu

Dr. S. Parthasarathy currently serves as the Chairperson of the Sleep Disorders Research Advisory Board and Dr. L. Kubin is a member of the Board. Their summary of the latest SDRAB meeting provides a perspective on the event, as it may be of interest to the sleep health and sleep research community, and should not be construed as representing their views as temporary government employees, which they formally are at the time when they attend the Board meetings.

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INCOSACT

It is well recognized that a major co-morbidity of sleep apnea is cardiovascular disease. There is, however, a glaring paucity of data addressing the role of sleep apnea interventions on modi-fying cardiovascular risk factors or cardiovascular disease rates. In particular, there have been few well-powered, controlled clin-ical trials. While studies designed by the cardiovascular commu-nity that address cardiovascular endpoints include thousands of person-years of follow-up, most sleep disorders intervention studies have been small, of short duration, and uncontrolled. As reviewed,1 since 2000, only 39 randomized controlled trials with minimal sample sizes of 50 (average n = 200 subjects) have been conducted that address sleep apnea treatment. The duration of most of these studies has been less than one year, with blood pressure rather than hard clinical endpoints as outcomes. The lack of such data prevents the establishment of high level evidence-based guidelines for managing/treating sleep disorders, resulting in variation in care, inappropriate utilization of limited health care resources, and suboptimal treatment decisions.

To help address this gap, the International Collaboration for Sleep Apnea Cardiovascular Trials (INCOSACT) was estab-lished. Its aim is to foster international collaboration for the purposes of conducting multi-center randomized clinical trials of sleep apnea interventions, with a particular focus on studies to reduce cardiovascular disease events. The consortium aims to promote new research ideas and help researchers obtain funding

1. Gottlieb DJ, Craig SE, Lorenzi-Filho G, Heeley E, Redline S, McEvoy RD, Durán-Cantolla J. Sleep apnea cardiovascular clinical trials - current status and steps forward: the International Collabora-tion of Sleep Apnea Cardiovascular Trialists. Sleep 2013;36:975-980.

Launch of the International Collaboration for Sleep Apnea Cardiovascular Trials (INCOSACT) Website and Invitation to New Members

by fostering academic-industry partnerships and providing a credible framework to support the conduct of clinical trials. It aims to facilitate the sharing of expertise and, where appropriate, the standardization of methodology for diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of participants.

The INCOSACT web portal is now open (www.incosact.org) and individuals interested in conducting clinical trials of sleep apnea and cardiovascular disease are welcome to join. We have posted protocols and data collection instruments from several trials and invite others to do so to augment our collaborative community. Opportunities to interact include:

• Sharing relevant resources to promote high quality clinical trial data collection and future harmonization and sharing of data (e.g., questionnaires, procedure manuals, etc.)

• Sharing expertise in strategies to improve the design of clinical trials, such as approaches for enhancing treatment adherence, addressing equipoise, selecting appropriate control conditions

• Helping plan and conduct meta-analyses• Publicizing clinical trials• Disseminating information on methods and outcomes to the

general scientific communityIn summary, by encouraging international cooperation we

hope to promote the collection of evidence needed to inform the global community on the role of sleep apnea interventions to reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.

Douglas McEvoy and Susan RedlineCo-Chairs, INCOSACT Steering Committee

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NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Gordon Conference on Sleep Regulation and FunctionThe inaugural Gordon Research Conference on Sleep Regulation and Function will be held March 16-21, 2014, in Galveston, TX, USA. The focus of this conference is, “Emerging Themes and Paradigm Shifts.” During the past two decades we have witnessed a paradigm shift in the conceptualization of how sleep is regulated. Within the context of paradigm shifts and emerging themes, a research program has emerged in which investigators from many different backgrounds ask basic questions about the regulation and function of sleep at a local level as well as at the level of the whole organism. Investigators use a wide range of methodologies developed within the disciplines of molecular biology, genetics, systems biology, neuroscience, mathematical modeling and others. The objectives of the conference are to bring together scientists from within and outside the sleep research community who will contribute to a highly integrated conference, provide a forum for discussion of the latest research in the field, and contribute to the training of the next generation of sleep researchers.

Abstracts covering any topic of the basic science of sleep will be considered for inclusion, although priority will be given to abstracts that complement the program. In addition to an open abstract call, there will be two moderated Poster Symposia on the topics of Sleep-Immune Interactions and Sleep and Metabolism. Each poster symposia will include up to 20 posters, and priority for these symposia will be given to trainees and early career investigators who submit abstracts focused on these topics.

Attendance at Gordon Conferences is competitive and by application. Online applications, including abstract submission,

must be completed by February 16, 2014. Attendance at this Gordon Conference is limited to 200 individuals. For more information, to view the preliminary program, and to apply to attend, visit the Gordon Research Conference program page: www.grc.org/programs.aspx?year=2014&program=sleepreg.

SRS promoting sleep health with CDC and AASMThe Sleep Research Society (SRS) will play a significant role in the National Healthy Sleep Awareness Project, a new initia-tive being developed through a cooperative agreement between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM).

The project will unite sleep health organizations with other medical societies and government agencies to address the national epidemic of insufficient sleep and untreated sleep illness. Strategic direction for the five-year collaborative project will be provided by leaders of the AASM and the SRS.

A primary goal of the project is to promote the achieve-ment of the sleep health objectives in Healthy People 2020, which provides science-based, 10-year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans. Key components of the project will be to promote public awareness, educate health care providers and conduct a comprehensive assessment of the ongoing collection, analysis and dissemination of national sleep health surveillance data.

The SRS values the opportunity to participate in this important public health and scientific initiative. Updates will be provided to members as the project moves forward in 2014.

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multi-disciplinary basic and applied research, as well as three confer-ence rooms. A new state-of–the art 8-bed clinical research facility opens in May 2014 as part of an NIH-funded Clinical and Transla-tional Research Center at OHSU. This new unit is a joint clinical/research facility for long-term EEG monitoring of patients with epilepsy, plus personnel, facilities and core laboratories for patient-based research. All eight rooms can be used for sleep research studies and three of these eight rooms are specifically tailored for circadian research studies with controlled environment (dim lighting and free of time cues), and a central monitoring station.

OIOHS has an annual budget close to $10M from federal grants and funds from the State of Oregon. In addition, the Insti-tute recently received substantial investment from OHSU to fund up to 6 new faculty members along with generous start-up pack-ages. To complement a number of established OIOHS faculty members performing sleep and circadian research, the first part of this transition has involved further development of a sleep and circadian research theme at OIOHS, filling in some of the gaps in areas of investigation from molecular biology to workplace

New Investment in Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences (formerly Center for Research on Occupational and Environmental Toxicology, CROET)

The Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences (OIOHS) at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) is in the midst of a significant transition. OIOHS’s mission is to promote health and reduce disease and disability among workers across the nation, and particularly in Oregon. This is achieved with complementary research by 15 faculty members across many levels of investiga-tion, including basic laboratory science, human laboratory science, workplace interventions and outreach plus education (Figure 1). Current areas of research include occupational and environmental toxicology, cancer biology, rehabilitation from injury, prevention of injury, circadian biology, sleep biology and interventions to improve health, safety and productivity at work. To help disseminate the results of the research, OIOHS also has an outreach program involving varied stakeholders such as Oregon workers, employers, labor, health and safety specialists and the general public.

OIOHS occupies three contiguous floors with ~45,000 square feet of laboratory and office space customized for cutting-edge,

DOMESTIC LABORATORY SPOTLIGHT

Some of the sleep and circadian researchers at the newly formed Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences at Oregon Health & Science University left to right: Scott Holbrook, Charles Allen, Matthew Butler, Doris Kretzschmar, Steven Shea, Marlène Cassar, Noal Clemons, Sudeshna Dutta, Sally Roberts, Robert Irwin, Nathan Klett missing: W. Kent Anger, Bonnie Bolkan, Olga Cravetchi, Lisa Marriott, Mykhaylo Moldavan, Ryan Olson, Jackilen Shannon, Elizabeth Sunderhaus, Saurab Thosar, Mitchell Turker

Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences (OIOHS)

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Institution Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU)

Address 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road - L606Portland, OR 97239

Phone 503-494-4273

Fax 503-494-4278

Director Steven A. Shea, PhD

OIOHS faculty members

performing sleep/circadian research

Charles N. Allen, PhDMatthew P. Butler, PhDDoris Kretszchmar, PhDRyan Olson, PhDJackilen Shannon, PhDSteven A. Shea, PhDMitchell S. Turker, PhD

OIOHS senior investigators,

research associates, post-doctoral fellows,

students and staff performing sleep/

circadian research

Bonnie J. Bolkan, PhDMarlène Cassar, PhDNoal A. Clemons, BAOlga Cravetchi, MS, MDSudeshna Dutta, PhDScott Holbrook, PhDRobert P. Irwin, MD, MPHNathan Klett, BSLisa K. Marriott, PhDMykhaylo G. Moldavan, PhDSally A. Roberts, BSElizabeth Sunderhaus, BSSaurabh S. Thosar, PhDBrad Wipfli, PhD

Website www.ohsu.edu/xd/research/centers-institutes/croet/chronic-disease-and-safely.cfm

Other (non-OIOHS) Sleep/Circadian

Faculty Affiliations across OHSU

Eilis A. Boudreau, MD, PhDJonathan Emens, MD, DABSMChad Hagen, MDKimberly N. Hutchison, MDJeffrey Iliff, PhDKyle P. Johnson, MDAkram Khan, MDDerek J. Lam, MD, MPHAlfred Lewy, MD, PhDMiranda M. Lim, MD, PhDHolger W. Link, MD, MRCP (UK)Daniel J. O’Hearn, MDRobert L. Sack, MDChristine M. Swanson, MDHenryk F. Urbanski, PhD

Clinical Sleep Fellows at OHSU

2013-14

Akhil Raghuram, MDJustin Hale, MD

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DOMESTIC LABORATORY SPOTLIGHT

internal body clock, using in vitro electrophysiology and imaging. Dr. Doris Kretzschmar’s research group uses Drosophila to study how specific genes affect circadian rhythms and the role of these genes and the circadian system in neural degeneration, typical of Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Mitchell Turker’s research group is examining how sleep loss and circadian rhythms influence the changes in genes caused by the environment (epigenetics). Dr. Matthew Butler’s research is directed towards understanding the synchronization between the brain’s body clock and the timing of the circadian clocks in the cells and tissues in the remainder of the body, such as the heart and pancreas. By performing laboratory studies in humans, Dr. Shea is building on some of this animal research to determine the extent to which similar body-clock and sleep loss issues may help explain the adverse health effects of shift work. Dr. Ryan Olson and Dr. Jackilen Shannon are trans-lating these laboratory studies to perform monitoring and inter-ventions onsite in a number of occupations. Specifically, they are examining the impact of work on sleep in nurses and truckers, and are applying interventions to improve sleep, safety, and health in these groups. Finally, the Let’s Get Healthy Program at OIOHS is a very popular interactive exhibit used in the workplace, schools and community health fairs to educate people about many health issues, including sleep health. Let’s Get Healthy is also used for data collection in these groups to help with ongoing research. The growing Let’s Get Healthy database is freely available on the web for data explorations. Thus, OIOHS has a research theme related to improving health, safety and productivity among workers by targeting sleep and shift work. This theme spans basic research in animals, laboratory research in humans and applied workplace interventions. All of these research endeavors complement each other and enhance the academic environment and lead to many fruitful collaborations.

Recent Research Highlights Diekman CO, et al. Causes and consequences of hyperexcitation

in central clock neurons. PLoS Computational Biology 2013:e1003196.

Eastwood E, Allen CN, Raber J. Effects of neonatal methamphetamine and thioperamide exposure on spatial memory retention and circadian activity later in life. Behavioral Brain Research 2012;230:229-36.

Hu K et al. Fractal patterns of neural activity exist within the suprachiasmatic nucleus and require extrinsic network interac-tions. PLoS One 2012;7:e48927.

Hu K et al. Noninvasive fractal biomarker of clock neurotrans-mitter disturbance in humans with dementia. Scientific Reports 2013;3:2229.

Krishnan N et al. Loss of circadian clock accelerates aging in neurodegeneration-prone mutants. Neurobiology of Disease 2012;45:1129-35.

Krishnan N, Kretzschmar D, et al. The circadian clock gene period extends healthspan in aging Drosophila melanogaster. Aging. 2009;1:937-48.

interventions. Steven A. Shea, PhD was recruited as the new director and performs clinical sleep and circadian laboratory research. Matthew P. Butler, PhD is the newest faculty member and performs circadian research in animal models. The remaining faculty recruits are expected to join over the next few years. In addition, the State of Oregon gave legislative approval to change the center’s name on January 1, 2014 from the Center for Research on Occupational and Environmental Toxicology (CROET) to the Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences (OIOHS) to better reflect ongoing research and a broadened mission across occupational health and safety research.

Sleep And Shift Work: Impact On Health, Safety, And Productivity It is now quite clear that adequate sleep is not only essential for safety and productivity but also for overall health and wellbeing. A sleepy person is more likely to be involved in an accident, have reduced motivation, poor mood, and strained relationships at home and at work, and has increased risk for chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension and stroke. This is best exempli-fied by the difficulties that nightshift workers and those with sleep disorders endure. OIOHS’s sleep and circadian research program studies all aspects of these problems with a view to implement solutions ranging from screening for and treating sleep disorders, to educating communities and workforces about ‘sleep health’, to implementing interventions designed to improve sleep, safety, productivity and overall health in the workplace. For instance, to adapt to different shift work schedules, we need to understand how the body clock works, and how to reset the timing of the clock in the brain and throughout the body so that we function optimally. By studying animals, Dr. Charles Allen and his research team are studying how the internal circadian pacemaker in the brain functions, and the neural mechanisms that govern re-setting this

Figure 1.

Outreach

Education/Dissemination

WorkplaceInterventions

Research

HumanLaboratory Research

AnimalLaboratory Research

Molecular,Cellular

and GeneticResearch

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DOMESTIC LABORATORY SPOTLIGHT

Moldavan MG, Allen CN. GABAB receptor-mediated frequency-dependent and circadian changes in synaptic plasticity modulate retinal input to the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Journal of Physiology 2013;591:2475-90.

Olsen RH et al. Impaired memory and reduced sensitivity to the circadian period lengthening effects of methamphetamine in mice selected for high methamphetamine consumption. Behavioral Brain Research 2013;256:197-204.

Olson R et al. A new health promotion model for lone workers: results of the Safety & Health Involvement For Truckers (SHIFT) pilot study. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2009;51:1233-46.

Scheer FA et al. Repeated melatonin supplementation improves sleep in hypertensive patients treated with beta-blockers: a randomized controlled trial. Sleep 2012;35:1395-402.

Scheer FA, Morris CJ, Shea SA. The internal circadian clock increases hunger and appetite in the evening independent of food intake and other behaviors. Obesity 2013;21:421-3.

Scheer FA, Shea SA. Human circadian system causes morning peak in pro-thrombotic plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) independent of sleep/wake cycle. Blood 2013 Nov 7. [Epub ahead of print].

Shea SA. Obesity and pharmacologic control of the body clock. New England Journal of Medicine 2012;367:175-8.

See Table 1 for a list of some of the projects on sleep and circa-dian biology at OIOHS funded by the United States Department of Health & Human Services (National Institutes of Health [NIH] and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDCP]).

In addition to research within Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences, there are a number of sleep and circadian researchers across the OHSU campus, including the clinical sleep service, which serves thousands of patients and performs >1,500 sleep studies each year (with ~50% in the pediatric population). These groups get together regularly for a journal club and to view the monthly Sleep Grand Rounds broadcast from Harvard Medical School, and comprise a real scientific community. Below is a partial list of the additional expertise in sleep and circadian research across campus:

• Jacob Raber: how disruptions in circadian clocks or sleep affects behavior and learning in a mouse model;

• Miranda Lim: how traumatic brain injury affects sleep and how sleep may improve rehabilitation from brain injury in a mouse model;

• Henryk Urbanski: how endocrine function relates to sleep and circadian rhythms;

• Eilis Boudreau: neuroimaging applications and bioinformatic approaches in traumatic brain injury and sleep in humans;

• Alfred Lewy and Jonathan Emens: the neurobiology of seasonal affective disorder, depression and circadian rhythms in blind individuals;

• Chad Hagen and Jeff Kaye: sleep disordered breathing and affect on sleep stability and diagnostic testing development, automated analysis;

• Daniel O’Hearn and Jon Emens: development of sleep telemedicine and rural outreach programs.

Table 1. OIOHS projects funded by the United States Department of Health & Human Services

Principal Investigator Project Title Funding Source

Charles N. Allen, PhD Calcium Signaling in Suprachiasmatic Nucleus Neurologicalns

National Institute of General Medical Science (R01 GM096972)

Charles N. Allen, PhD Cellular Electrophysiology of the Suprachiasmatic Nuclei

National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke (R01 NS036607)

W. Kent Anger, PhD Oregon Healthy Workforce Center National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health (U19 OH010154)

Doris E. Kretzschmar, PhD SWS/NTE Function in Neurological Degeneration and Axonopathy

National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke (R01 NS047663)

Kerry S. Kuehl, PhD, MD Health Promotion to Reduce Health Risks in Correctional Officers (Oregon Healthy Workforce Center)

National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health (U19 OH010154)

Ryan B. Olson, PhD Portland Center: Work Life Network Phase II National Institute of Child Health and Human Develop-ment via Portland State University (U01 HD059773)

Ryan B. Olson, PhD Oregon Worker Illness and Injury Prevention Program National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health via Oregon Health Authority (U60 OH008472)

Ryan B. Olson, PhD Social Support During a Randomized Trial of a Trucker Weight Loss Intervention

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (HL105495)

Jackilen Shannon, PhD CHIDR Chatter: Translating Community Research Data for Classroom Use

NIH Office of the Director (R25 OD010496)

Steven A. Shea, PhD Chronobiology of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Disease

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (K24 HL076446)

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INTERNATIONAL LABORATORY SPOTLIGHT

up a fellowship at Harvard Medical School, meeting Ziad Boulos and working with some promising students who turned out okay (Klerman, Houpt, Welsh). He wore a Montreal Canadiens jersey to the old Boston Gardens, and lived (don’t look, he might be crazy). The opportunity to join Simon Fraser University, ski Whistler and watch Hockey Night in Canada again came in 1988, and rodents have been running in wheels on Burnaby Mountain ever since. The lab has been continuously funded by NSERC, and occasionally by CIHR and the Workers Compensation Board of BC. Current research activities include the following.

Current Research Focus

1. Circadian properties and neural mechanisms of non-photic entrainment. Circadian rhythms in most mammalian species are entrained to local time by exposure to daily light-dark (LD) cycles, transduced by photoreceptive retinal ganglion cells that innervate a master circadian clock in the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). While light, via the SCN, may appear to rule the timing of daily rhythms, the phase of entrainment, in common lab animals, can be modified by daily schedules of behavioral arousal. Also, circadian clocks cycling in brain regions outside of the SCN and in most body organs and tissues are entrained predominantly by meal time. One long-term program in the lab has sought to identify neural pathways by which behavioral arousal (e.g., 3-6 h of sleep deprivation) modifies the phase, period and light sensitivity of the SCN pacemaker. Research strategies include lesions and gene knockouts, behavioral pharmacology, and immunocytochemistry for markers of neural activation and phenotype. Students who completed doctoral work on this program include Drs. Elliott Marchant (Vancouver Island), Mike Antle (Calgary) and Ian Webb (Mississippi).

A second long-term research program seeks to determine the neural and molecular mechanisms by which regular daily meal times entrain circadian rhythms of food anticipatory activity in rodents. The lab has conducted numerous behavioral studies to characterize circadian properties of food anticipatory rhythms and lesion studies to test hypotheses about the role of specific brain regions as the location of food-entrainable oscillators critical for these rhythms. A recent doctoral thesis by Dr. Glenn Landry (postdoc, UBC) clarified the role of one area, the dorso-medial hypothalamus. A prediction from his work is that SCN output is inhibited to permit expression of food anticipatory activity in the day. The hypothesis is being tested using measures of SCN neuronal activation, including cFos expression (Danica Patton and honors student Teresa Dattolo) and multiple unit activity (collaborators Drs. Johanna Meijer and Claudia Coomans at Leiden, and Mike Antle).

Anticipation of a daily meal is modeled as the output of an oscillator entrained by feeding. This raises the issue of how rodents anticipate two or more daily meals. For her doctoral thesis, Danica Patton (postdoc, Stanford) used in situ hybridiza-tion, RT-PCR and hormonal assays to characterize clock gene (brain, stomach, adrenals) and hormonal (ghrelin, corticosterone) correlates of anticipation to single and multiple daily meals, seeking biological evidence to discriminate between single and

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The Circadian Rhythms and Sleep Laboratory at Simon Fraser

University (Canada)

Background and HistoryThe Circadian Rhythms and Sleep laboratory is directed by Ralph Mistlberger, Professor in the Psychology Department at Simon Fraser University. The lab is on the main campus perched atop Burnaby Mountain, with fine views of Vancouver city, the Salish Sea and the Coastal Mountains of British Columbia. Dr. Mistl-berger had a first taste of rhythms research as an undergraduate at McGill University in 1979, during sleepless nights tracking nocturnal clumping behavior in giant African land snails (some must watch, while some must clump). Undaunted, he undertook doctoral training in Alan Rechtschaffen’s sleep lab at the Univer-sity of Chicago, where he was the first to study homeostatic properties of sleep in arrhythmic rodents, and where napping was considered honorable. He first heard the word ‘circa-dian’ (mantra-like) from a senior student in the lab, Charmane Eastman, and after reading a seminal review paper by Boulos and Terman in 1980, became obsessed with the idea that circa-dian clocks entrainable by food were really very important, and could be studied without overwhelming competition from well-established labs studying other important things, like the function of sleep. Upon graduating in 1984 he defected to chronobiology for a postdoc and cod fishing (remember cod?) with Ben Rusak at Dalhousie University on the Canadian east coast. In 1986, he took

Institution Simon Fraser University

Address Department of PsychologySimon Fraser UniversityBurnaby BC Canada V5A 1S6

Phone 778-782-3462

Email mistlber@sfu.ca

Website www.sfu.ca/psyc/faculty/mistlberger

left to right, seated: Curtis Hazelwood, Ilya Pavlovski, Christian Peterson; photo insets: Andrea Smit (sent from Bolivia), Denise Weisgerber; standing: Teresa Dattolo, Mateusz Michalik, Ralph Mistlberger, Hannah Mehlenbacher, Louisa Dal Cengio; absent: Cong Xu

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INTERNATIONAL LABORATORY SPOTLIGHT

multiple oscillator models. Collaborators include Drs. Alfonzo Abizaid (Ottawa), Horacio de la Iglesia (Washington), Frank Lee and Gratien Prefontaine (SFU), and Florian Storch (McGill). For his masters thesis, Christian Petersen is conducting behavioral studies testing predictions of a proposal that rats can use non-circadian oscillators and interval timing to anticipate one or more daily meals (hypothesis not supported).

The nature of the stimuli that entrain central neural circadian oscillators to daily mealtimes have yet to be determined. Using per2::luciferase mice, lab tech Ilya Pavlovski, with honors student Cong Xu and Dr. Jennifer Evans (Marquette), has identi-fied the olfactory bulb as a food-entrainable circadian oscillator and is conducting experiments to identify the stimuli associated with food intake that entrain these oscillators. Food is rewarding, and periodic availability of other rewards can induce anticipatory rhythms, raising the possibility that neural responses to reward may play a role as entrainment stimuli for food anticipatory rhythms. Masters student Andrea Smit, with Danica Patton and a team of assistants, has found that food anticipatory rhythms can be phase shifted with a dopamine receptor agonist. Masters student Mateusz Michalik has characterized altered food anticipa-tory activity rhythms in a dopamine receptor knockout mouse, in collaboration with Dr. Andrew Steele (Caltech).

2. Accelerated LD re-entrainment in animal models. Frequent travelers and shift workers suffer sleep and physiological impairments due to temporary or chronic misalignment of circadian rhythms to local time or scheduled work. Strategies for accelerating (or preventing) circadian clock resetting are needed. The lab has previously described in Syrian hamsters greatly potentiated clock resetting responses to behavioral arousal following overnight bright light exposure. The lab is currently using the per2:luc mouse to examine the effects of accelerated re-entrainment of behavioral rhythms on the timing of peripheral and central neural clocks (Ilya Pavlovski, with honors student Curtis Hazelwood).

3. Sleep mechanisms and functions. The laboratory is fully equipped for rodent polysomnography, using Grass hardware and SleepSign data acquisition and analysis software. Recent doctoral student Dr. Mike Pollock (Camosun College) used pontine microinjections of GABAergic compounds in rats to develop a REM induction method suitable for testing hypotheses concerning the role of REM sleep in learning and memory. For her thesis work, Dr. Anka Mueller (Munich) used the platform-over-water method to show that 3-4 days of REMS deprivation strongly attenuates the birth of new cells in the hippocampus of adult rats and mice by co-activation of adrenal glucocorticoids and pro-inflammatory cytokines.

4. Work, sleep deprivation and countermeasures in humans. With funding from the Workers Comp Board, the lab has studied shift work schedules prevalent in BC, seasonal variations in shift work tolerance, and efficacy of a conventional shift work education program for shift work tolerance. The lab is currently testing countermeasures for driver sleepiness after night work. A common complaint of night shift workers is sleepiness on the drive home, which is particularly acute during the short days of

winter. Doctoral student Denise Weisgerber is testing the efficacy of bright light exposure near the end of a night shift as a alerting stimulus to temporarily reduce sleepiness and improve driving performance. Subjects are kept awake overnight and ‘drive home’ in a high fidelity simulator (a half car). The simulator is housed in the Psychology department and is equipped for eye tracking and EEG recording.

ResourcesThe laboratory includes office space, microscopy, wet lab and animal recording rooms. The office suite includes student offices, meeting room, PC/Mac computers and a microscopy room. The wet lab is fully equipped for basic histology and immuno-cytochemistry, and for recording clock gene expression in real time using a bioluminescent reporter and the Lumicycle data acquisition and analysis system. Shared facilities are available on campus for RT-PCR. The animal lab is a suite of four climate-controlled rooms accessed by anterooms, containing isolation cabinets equipped with motion sensors, running wheels, operant chambers, and/or radiotelemetry receivers (MiniMitter E-mitters) to record circadian rhythms of activity and body temperature from rats, mice or Syrian hamsters. Clocklab, VitalView and MED-PC software are used for data acquisition. The state-of-the-art barrier facility has breeding colony rooms and surgical and histology suites.

Training opportunitiesOpportunities are available for training at the undergraduate (volunteer, directed studies and honors research), graduate and postdoctoral levels. Funding is provided by operating grants, scholarships and teaching assistantships. Students participate in the Cognitive and Neural Sciences program within the Psychology department. SFU faculty are also members of the Brain Research Center, a national resource across town at the Vancouver campus of UBC, and trainees can take graduate courses at both SFU and UBC.

Publications representative of ongoing research interests Mueller AD, Meerlo P, McGinty D, Mistlberger RE (2013) Sleep

and adult neurogenesis: implications for cognition and mood. In: Meerlo P, Benca RM, Abel T, Sleep, Neuronal Plasticity and Brain Function, Springer.

Patton DF, Mistlberger RE (2013) Circadian adaptations to meal timing: Neuroendocrine mechanisms. Frontiers in Neurosci-ence, in press.

Webb IC, Antle MC, Mistlberger RE (2013) Behavioral regula-tion of circadian rhythms in mammals. Behavioral Neurosci-ence, Special issue: Biological Rhythms in Behavioral Neuro-science, RJ Nelson (Ed).

Mistlberger RE, Kent BA, Chan S, Patton DF, Weinberg A, Parfyonov M (2012) Circadian clocks for all meal-times: anticipation of 2 daily meals in rats. PLoS One, 7:e31772.

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INTERNATIONAL LABORATORY SPOTLIGHT

Landry GJ, Kent BA, Patton DF, Jaholkowski M, Marchant EG, Mistlberger RE (2011) Evidence for time-of-day depen-dent effect of neurotoxic dorsomedial hypothalamic lesions on food anticipatory circadian rhythms in rats. PLoS One, 6:e24187.

Mistlberger RE (2011) Neurobiology of food anticipatory circa-dian rhythms. Physiology and Behavior, 104:535-45.

Mistlberger RE (2009) Entrainment of circadian rhythms by food: concepts and methods. European Journal of Neurosci-ence, 30:1718-1729.

McLaughlin C, Bowman ML, Bradley CL, Mistlberger RE (2008) A prospective study of seasonal variation in shiftwork tolerance. Chronobiology International, 25:455-470.

Mistlberger RE (2005) Circadian regulation of mammalian sleep: role of the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Brain Research Reviews, 49:429-454.

Mistlberger RE, Skene DJ (2004) Social influences on mamma-lian circadian rhythms: animal and human studies. Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 79:533-56.

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Miranda M. Lim, MD, PhD Dr. Lim is a neurologist and an Assistant Professor in the Division of Sleep Medi-cine at the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). She gradu-ated from the University of Southern California in 1998 and received her combined MD/PhD degrees from Emory University in 2006. During her PhD thesis with Dr. Larry Young, she discov-

ered the neurogenetic basis for pair bonding in the monogamous prairie vole, which was published in Nature and was the recipient of the Donald Lindsley Prize in Behavioral Neuroscience in 2005. She completed a Neurology residency at Washington University in Saint Louis in 2010, and clinical fellowship in Sleep Medi-cine at the University of Pennsylvania in 2011. At Washington University, she worked in the laboratory of Dr. David Brody and

published a paper in Journal of Neurotrauma describing the role of orexin (hypocretin) in a mouse model of moderate TBI, as well as a publication in Science with Dr. David Holtzman showing that sleep modulates amyloid plaque deposition in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. At the University of Pennsylvania, she completed a post-doctoral research fellowship with Dr. Allan Pack in the Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology and Dr. Akiva Cohen in the Center for Brain Injury and Repair char-acterizing a mouse model of persistent sleep-wake disturbances in a mouse model of mild TBI using quantitative EEG. She was awarded the Narcolepsy Section Young Investigator Award by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine in 2011 for her work implicating a role for orexin in wake impairment after TBI. Co-morbid sleep disorders are debilitating, lead to longer hospital stays, and significantly impair cognitive rehabilitation in patients with TBI. At the Portland VA and OHSU, Dr. Lim’s laboratory focuses on understanding and targeting sleep as a way to maxi-mize cognitive rehabilitation after brain injury.

EARLY STAGE INVESTIGATOR PROFILES

Asya Rolls, PhDDr. Rolls earned her PhD from the Weiz-mann Institute of Science, Israel where she trained by Drs. Michal Schwartz and Ofer Lider. Her work focused on understanding how the immune system regulates central nervous system (CNS) plasticity. Her studies, together with Dr. Ravid Shechter, revealed that Toll-like receptors (TLRs), receptors known to regulate innate immune responses,

are expressed in neural progenitor cells and regulate the fate of these cells (Rolls et al. Nature Cell Biology 2007). They further discovered that a matrix proteoglycan, one of the ligands of these receptors, is a key player in regulating the immune response in the CNS after injury (Rolls et al. PLoS Medicine 2008; Nature Reviews in Neuroscience 2009). These studies suggested that the immune system is essential for CNS repair and plasticity.

In pursuit of her interest in CNS plasticity, she chose to receive her postdoctoral training at Stanford University, under the guid-ance of Drs. Luis de Lecea and Craig Heller. There, she studied sleep and its role in CNS plasticity. She used optogenetics to target hypocretin/orexin neurons and developed a new method for disrupting sleep continuity without disrupting sleep inten-sity or duration. This approach enabled study of the impact of a single sleep feature (e.g., sleep integrity, intensity or duration)

on memory consolidation. Her work revealed that regardless of the total amount of sleep, a minimal unit of uninterrupted sleep is crucial for memory consolidation (Rolls et al. PNAS 2011). Dr. Rolls then examined whether instead of strengthening memories during sleep one can use sleep to weaken memories. To this end, she developed, together with Megha Makam, Dr. Daniel Kroeger and Dr. Damien Colas, an experimental paradigm of introducing sensory cues during sleep to “reactivate” an associated memory. The consolidation of the reactivated memory was then interrupted using protein synthesis inhibitors (Rolls et al. Molecular Psychi-atry 2013). Dr. Rolls then integrated her graduate research expe-rience in neuroimmunology to study how sleep affects plasticity of the immune system. In a study she conducted in collaboration with Drs. Wendy Pang and Ingrid Ibarra, from the laboratory of Dr. Irving Weissman at Stanford University, she discovered that sleep regulates hematopoietic stem cell function.

As a postdoctoral fellow, she received the NARSAD young investigator award, the Rothschild Fellowship and the EMBO long-term Fellowship. Recently, she received the Career Inte-gration Grant from the European Commission. Dr. Rolls is currently an Assistant Professor at the Rappaport Medical School at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology where she studies the effects of sleep on immunological memory. She focuses on gaining a better understanding of specific neuronal networks that mediate the effects of the sleeping brain on the immune system.

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NEW MEMBERS

The Sleep Research Society welcomes members who recently joined the organization. Our membership continues to grow — help us strengthen the impact of the profession by encouraging your colleagues to join. Information

regarding membership can be found on the Society website (www.sleepresearchsociety.org).

FULL MEMBERS Vincent F. Capaldi, MD Silver Spring, MD Vivek Pillai, PhD Detroit, MI

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW Matthew R. Cribbet, PhD Pittsburgh, PA Huan Yang, PhD Roslindale, MA

PREDOCTORAL STUDENT Ji-soo Kim Tucson, AZ Ellen R. Stothard Boulder, CO Patricia M. Wong Pittsburgh, PA

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT Lawrence R. Belcher, III Detroit, MI