Dr. Moravcevic [HHMI Fellow] is studying sleep deprivation, which leads to an increased risk of several diseases including cancer. Little is currently known about the function of sleep or about the molecular mechanisms that control the need to sleep. To begin to understand why sleep deprivation has such a negative impact on human health, she will address how and why the need to sleep builds up after prolonged wakefulness. She will use fruit flies as a model system to determine the genetic and molecular basis of sleep homeostasis.

 

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Project Title: "Investigating the genetic and neurochemical basis of sleep homeostasis"

Institution: University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

Sponsor(s) / Mentor(s): Amita Sehgal, PhD

Cancer Type: Breast, Colorectal

Research Area: Basic Genetics