|
  |
|
|
Krasnow Institute > Monday Seminars > Abstracts
Sleep: from Mechanism to Function Chiara Cirelli Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin, Madison Sleep is universal and pervasive, sleep deprivation has serious consequences on cognition and health, yet why we sleep remains a mystery. Chiara Cirelli will consider the contribution of novel genetic and molecular approaches to our understanding of sleep regulation and function. Genetic studies in fruit flies, mice, and humans have shown that several aspects of sleep are under genetic controls, from the daily amount of sleep to the response to sleep deprivation. Molecular studies have shown that sleep and wakefulness are associated with the differential expression of specific gene categories, and suggest that sleep need may be related to synaptic plasticity. Giulio Tononi will discuss new evidence supporting the synaptic homeostasis hypothesis, which states that sleep serves to renormalize synaptic weight increased during wakefulness.
The Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study |
|
