Saxena Lab

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Links to Neurological Disease

  • What are the mechanistic links between sleep, circadian rhythms and Alzheimer’s disease?
  • Can sleep be a longitudinal biomarker of early Alzheimer’s disease?
  • What are the causes and consequences of circadian rhythm disruption in neurodegenerative disease?
  • What are the mechanistic links between sleep, circadian rhythms and Alzheimer’s disease?
  • Can sleep be a longitudinal biomarker of early Alzheimer’s disease?
  • What are the causes and consequences of circadian rhythm disruption in neurodegenerative disease?

Sleep and circadian disturbances are prodromal to several neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinsons disease. We aim to adapt real-time sleep, circadian, diet and metabolic phenotyping approaches (apps and wearable technology) to understand mechanistic links. Digital phenotyping, coupled with genetic, genomic and drug information in carriers of risk or protective genetic variants, or in diseased individuals will enhance dynamic data collection on sleep and circadian rhythm parameters to ultimately inform biology of aging diseases and therapeutic interventions.

Projects

Bipolar/Depression and Circadian Disturbance

We are exploring the extent to which light sensitivity impacts depression through the circadian rhythms.

NF1 Sleep Study – Longitudinal, objective measurement and analysis of sleep-wake patterns in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1)

This is an ongoing cohort study to measure sleep and circadian disturbances in adult patients and matched controls.

Sleep metrics from machine learning for Alzheimer’s disease diagnostics

This proposal aims to develop and validate deep learning tools to discover sleep-based predictors for Alzheimer’s disease through analysis of sleep, activity, and cognitive data.

News

Publications

Genetic evidence for a potential causal relationship between insomnia symptoms and suicidal behavior: a Mendelian randomization study

Publication Date: May 10, 2022
Journal: Neuropsychopharmacology

Habitual sleep disturbances and migraine: a Mendelian randomization study

Publication Date: December 7, 2020
Journal: Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology