Divisions and Programs
Sleep Division
Division Chief: David Raizen, MD, PhD
Link to Penn Medicine Website - Neurology - Sleep Conditions
The Neurology Sleep Division conducts basic and clinical research focused on the mechanisms of healthy and disrupted sleep, circadian rhythms, and sleep disorders, while also providing comprehensive care across the full spectrum of sleep medicine. Research programs investigate the molecular, cellular, behavioral, and cognitive effects of sleep loss, regulation and function of sleep, circadian biology, mechanisms of anesthesia, neuronal injury in sleep apnea, and sleep during illness. Clinical research areas include obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), cardiovascular and metabolic consequences of sleep disorders, insomnia treatment, sleep in aging and neurodegenerative disease, chronotherapy for affective disorders, and innovative care delivery models such as telemedicine and occupational sleep medicine.
Basic Research Areas include:
- Molecular and cellular effects of sleep loss
- Behavioral and cognitive effects of sleep loss
- Functions of sleep
- Mechanisms of anesthesia
- Molecular and cellular mechanisms of circadian rhythms
- Neuronal injury in sleep apnea
- Regulation of sleep
- Sleep during sickness
Clinical Research Areas include:
- Genetic and anatomical risk factors for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)
- Cardiovascular consequences of OSA
- Treatments for OSA
- Treatment outcomes in OSA
- Sleep in the elderly
- Sleep in neurodegenerative disease (Dr. Chahine)
- Sleep and metabolic disease
- Chronotherapy for affective disorders
- Behavioral treatments for insomnia
- Novel systems for care delivery: telemedicine and occupational sleep medicine
Centers and Programs
Labs
- Raizen Lab - The Raizen Lab in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania studies mechanisms that regulate sleep behavior. They use the animal model Caenorhabditis elegans, which offers powerful genetic and physiological tools. By understanding HOW animals sleep, the hope is to gain insight into one of the greatest mysteries of life: WHY animals sleep?