CSB Departmental Seminar: “Motivational gating of sleep and wakefulness”

Assistant Professor Ada Eban-Rothschild
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan

“Motivational gating of sleep and wakefulness”

Abstract:

Our lab is interested in the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the intersection between sleep and motivation. Sleep and motivated behaviors are typically mutually exclusive, and animals need to carefully coordinate them to survive and reproduce. The timing and duration of sleep are regulated by circadian and homeostatic processes, yet motivational drives can strongly modulate the propensity of animals to stay awake or go to sleep. In our lab, we interrogate the functions of different neuronal populations, including VTA dopaminergic neurons, in the gating of arousal for motivational purposes. We also investigate the neurobiological basis of goal-directed sleep-preparatory behaviors, such as nest-building. In our research we combine an ethologically-oriented methodology together with cell-type specific recordings and manipulations in freely-behaving mice.

Host: John Peever: john.peever@utoronto.ca