Some call sleep food for the brain. The cost of poor sleep is much greater than many people think: it may have profound consequences for long-term health. Research suggests that normal sleep may be critical to memory function, as well as to healthy aging, and that chronic sleep disruptions may be linked to Alzheimer’s disease. New research has also revealed that people who consistently fail to get enough sleep are at an increased risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, and heart disease. Sleep deprivation in children and teens has increased dramatically and undermines their functioning at an optimal level.

Rockefeller University’s Michael Young has discovered genes and proteins that govern circadian rhythms and that play a role in setting our biological clocks. In addition to the sleep/wake cycle, our daily rhythms underlie many functions, including body temperature, mental alertness, pain sensitivity, and hormone production. The Young lab’s findings have implications for sleep and mood disorders, as well as disruptions in the timing of gene activities underlying visual functions, metabolism, immunity, learning, and memory. In addition to heading the laboratory of genetics, Dr. Young is vice president for academic affairs at Rockefeller.

On November 5, Dr. Young will be joined by Ana Krieger, medical director of the Weill Cornell Center for Sleep Medicine. Over the past 15 years,
Dr. Krieger has focused on sleep disorders research and education, patient care, and the training of sleep specialists. She is a physician-scientist whose research explores the mechanisms of cardiovascular disease and thrombosis in sleep apnea. She collaborates with many researchers in the field of sleep medicine, including investigators in Dr. Young’s lab, and has contributed to numerous scientific publications.

Following presentations by Drs. Krieger and Young, Rockefeller President Marc Tessier-Lavigne will lead a panel discussion. An internationally renowned neuroscientist, he came to The Rockefeller University in 2011 from the biotech firm Genentech, where he was executive vice president of research and chief scientific officer. He was previously on the faculty of the University of California, San Francisco, and Stanford University.

For more information, please contact Elizabeth Kennedy at ekennedy@rockefeller.edu or (212) 327- 7712.