Clinical and experimental (animal) sleep and neurology research

Staff

• Laura Facchin, Msc.
• Armand Mensen, PhD
• Simone Duss, PhD
• Corina Gorban, Dr. med.
• Doris Kuen, Dr. med.
• Thomas Horvath, Dr. med.
• Ulf Kallweit, Dr. med.
• Frederic Zubler, Dr. med.
• Markus Schmidt, Dr. med.

Research focuses

• Diagnosis and therapy of sleep-wake disorders
• Pathophysiology of narcolepsy, neurogenic hypersomnia and other neurological sleep disorders
• Investigation of the pathogenesis of sleep associated breathing disorders and their influence on the prevalence and rehabilitation of stroke.
• Role of sleep for neuroplasticity and recovery following stroke

Methods

• MRI
• EEG
• hdEEG
• NIRS
• Molecular biological methods
• TMS
• Optogenetic and in vivo electrophysiology

Short description

Our research group combines clinical and basic research in order to get a better understanding of neuronal circuits that underlie sleep-wake regulation and to investigate the function of sleep during recovery from stroke and other neurological diseases. The primary objectives of some of the current projects are:

• To evaluate whether an immediate onset of Adaptive Servo-Ventilation (ASV) treatment in stroke patients with severe Sleep Disordered Breathing has a favorable effect on infarct growth.
• To assess the long-term outcomes after stroke in relation to the presence of sleep disorders.
• To measure alterations in electrical brain activity as well as brain connectivity changes in stroke patients and to correlate the quality of sleep with the respective rehabilitation outcome.
• To promote a positive effect on the motor activity previously affected by stroke through optogenetic induction of sleep oscillation in animal model.
• To identify an autoreactive T cell response against hypocretin in human narcolepsy.