Dr. Emmanuel Mignot, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Stanford University
Sleep is both a mediator and a major objective component of brain and mental health. Our propensity to sleep (or ability to stay awake) at any moment is regulated by two processes, sleep “homeostasis,” which represent a need to catch up on sleep lost (called sleep debt) and the circadian clock, an effect of the time of the day that is independent of any prior sleep (which is why we experience jet lag). Whereas our understanding of the molecular circadian clock has made tremendous progress in the last 30 years as recognized with the recent Nobel price in this area, we lack any knowledge of the molecular regulators of sleep debt. Another major problem in the area has been access to sleep disorder testing and proper treatment. For example, it is estimated that 85% of patients with sleep apnea are still unaware of it and thus untreated in the US alone. Similarly, cognitive behavioral therapy is a known, effective treatment for insomnia, yet is not widely available outside relatively few sleep centers. Finally, we are still unable to assess if insomnia or hypersomnia in most patients is the result of insufficient/poor sleep or circadian disturbances. The solution to these issues is the use of new technologies in genetics, proteomics and wearable technology that can be applied at home or by general practitioners.
Dr. Mignot is director of the Stanford Center for Sleep Sciences and Medicine. He is internationally recognized for discovering the cause of narcolepsy. His research focuses on the neurobiology, genetics and immunology of narcolepsy, a disorder caused by hypocretin (orexin) cell loss, with an indirect interest in the neuroimmunology of other brain disorders. Currently, Dr. Mignot is interested in analyses involving statistics and machine learning of polysomnography, clinical and biological data, including the combination of EEG, wearable biosensors, and genetic datasets.
Lunch will be provided.