Sleep and Cognition Group
Our research focuses on the role of sleep in memory, mood, emotion and neurodegenerative disease.
Current work investigates the neurobiology of the neuropeptide orexin on sleep, in particular the influences of orexin receptor antagonists on sleep quality and subsequent performance in tests of memory and emotion in animal models. This work expands into investigations of the role of the orexin system in Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia, and explores the potential of orexin receptor antagonists to modulate disease progression in mouse models of these diseases.
About our research
Research interests
- Sleep
- Memory
- Emotion
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Dementia
Techniques
- EEG/EMG
- Immunopanning
- Transriptomic profiling
Research team
Research team head
Associate Professor Laura Jacobson
Group Head
Team members
Research fellows
- Dr Giancarlo Allocca
- Professor Emeritus Daniel Hoyer
- Dr Ryan Keenan
Research and technical staff
- Heather Daykin
PhD students
- Jarrah Kron
- Jeremy Metha
- Anne-Marie Peeters
- Yasmin Potts
Publications
- Jacobson LH, Hoyer D and Lecea L (2022), ‘Hypocretins (orexins): The ultimate translational neuropeptides’, Journal of Internal Medicine, 291(5):533–556, doi:10.1111/joim.13406
- Jacobson LH and Hoyer D (2022), ‘Losing sleep with age’, Science, 375(6583):816–817, doi:10.1126/science.abo1822
- Hoyer D, Allen A and Jacobson LH (2020), ‘Hypnotics with novel modes of action’, British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 86(2):244–249, doi:10.1111/bcp.14180
Contact us
Associate Professor Laura Jacobson
Group Head
[email protected]