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Larry D. Sanford, PhD, made a virtual presentation Nov. 5, 2020, titled, “Fear conditioning, neuroimmune responses and sleep: Role of amygdala in mediating a complex relationship,” to the SLEEPWELL program at the University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
American Heart Associate awards Alina Moriarty a pre-doctoral fellowship
Alina Moriarty, a PhD student in the Galkina lab, received a pre-doctoral fellowship award to study sleep fragmentation and heart disease.
Alina Moriarty, a PhD student in the Galkina lab, recently received a Pre-doctoral Fellowship awarded by American Heart Association to study the role of fragmented sleep in the regulation of development cardiovascular disease. The title of the project is “Sleep Fragmentation and neuronal regulation of STAT4-dependent immunity in atherosclerosis”.
When a person does not get enough sleep, they are at a higher risk of heart disease, Moriarty explained. The immune system doesn't work properly when a person lacks sleep. Moriarty will investigate what parts of the brain control the immune system's reaction when people don’t get enough sleep, and whether this reaction might cause heart disease to develop. The researchers will also test a protein, named STAT4, to see how it may regulate immune cell function when a person gets broken, poor-quality sleep. A part of the brain called the amygdala is in charge of interpreting stress. The amygdala turns on when stress is present. The amygdala is activated even more when someone doesn't get enough sleep. In this project, researchers will also investigate how disturbed sleep changes the amygdala and how the amygdala affects immunity, and wellbeing of blood vessels.
This project will be performed in collaboration with the Sanford Sleep laboratory, providing expertise in sleep research.
Meta-Analysis of Leukocyte Diversity in Atherosclerotic Mouse Aortas
Elena Galkina, PhD, participated in the invited review in Circulation Research that summarized the current understanding of the cell subset diversity within the aorta in atherosclerosis.
Immune Control of Initiation and Progression of Atherosclerosis
Elena Galkina, PhD, FAHA, has identified the presence of many immune cell types, including both B- and T-lymphocytes, within normal aortic tissues as well as atherosclerotic tissue.
Recent publications
Sweeten, B.L.W., Adkins, A.M., Wellman, L.L. Sanford, L.D. (2021). Group II metabotropic glutamate receptor activation in the basolateral amygdala mediates individual differences in stress-induced changes in rapid eye movement sleep. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 104, 10, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnpbp.2020.110014
News
Nov 2020. Dr. Sanford made a virtual presentation titled, “Fear conditioning, neuroimmune responses and sleep: Role of amygdala in mediating a complex relationship,” to the SLEEPWELL program at the University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.