Event Details:
Join the speaker for coffee, cookies, and conversation before the talk, starting at 11:45am.
Imaging brain-wide dynamics across sleep and wakefulness
Abstract
When we fall asleep, most aspects of brain function and physiology are quickly transformed. Sleep is essential for brain health, but its neurophysiological origins and consequences are still not fully understood. Our work aims to develop noninvasive imaging methods to understand the sleeping human brain. This talk will outline how fast, multimodal fMRI imaging techniques can be used to identify brain circuits that regulate sleep and the neurophysiological consequences of sleep. We find that sleep causes waves of cerebrospinal fluid flow to emerge in the brain, and identify neural mechanisms that regulate this flow. We then examine how sleep deprivation and aging affect these sleep-dependent neural and fluid dynamics. In addition, we use high-resolution imaging to identify distributed patterns of thalamic, hypothalamic, and brainstem activity underlying sleep-wake transitions. Together, these studies discover neurophysiological dynamics that appear in the sleeping brain, and provide insight into the mechanisms that unfold as we transition between wakefulness and sleep.
Laura Lewis
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Laura Lewis is the Athinoula A. Martinos Associate Professor in the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, and Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, and Associate Faculty at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital. She completed a B.Sc. in Cognitive Science at McGill University, a Ph.D. in Neuroscience at MIT, and postdoctoral research in biomedical imaging in the Harvard Society of Fellows and the Martinos Center. Her research develops multimodal approaches for imaging the human brain, and applies them to study the neural circuitry that controls sleep, and the consequences of sleep for brain health. Her research has been recognized with awards such as the Pew Biomedical Scholar Award, the Searle Scholar Award, the McKnight Scholar Award, and the Sloan Fellowship.
Hosted by - Todd Coleman (Coleman Lab)
This seminar is co-presented by Psychiatry Grand Rounds | Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
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About the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Seminar Series
The Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute seminar series brings together the Stanford neuroscience community to discuss cutting-edge, cross-disciplinary brain research, from biochemistry to behavior and beyond.
Topics include new discoveries in fundamental neurobiology; advances in human and translational neuroscience; insights from computational and theoretical neuroscience; and the development of novel research technologies and neuro-engineering breakthroughs.
Unless otherwise noted, seminars are held Thursdays at 12:00 noon PT.
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