Clinical and experimental (animal) sleep and neurology research
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.