# Investigating sleep efficiency mechanism and its impact on diseases

> **NIH NIH R35** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2024 · $589,324

## Abstract

Summary
Our program aims to seek fundamental knowledge about the brain and nervous system regulating our sleep
quality/efficiency and to use that knowledge to reduce the burden of neurological diseases (and probably many
others) for all people. Quality sleep is a fundamental necessity for maintaining health and critical for optimal
cognitive functioning. Although we have known this for a long time, we have little understanding of how the
quality and quantity of sleep are regulated. We began to study individuals with the familial natural short sleep
trait more than a decade ago and have now identified a growing list of genes/mutations carried by these
individuals. While they are genetically wired to sleep fewer hours per day, they do not desire more sleep and do
not seem to suffer the consequences of sleep deficiency and usually live a long and healthy life (both physically
and mentally), indicating that they sleep more efficiently. Identifying genetic differences in this population
provides solid evidence for the involvement of specific molecules and pathways in regulating sleep
quality/efficiency pathways. These molecules offer opportunities to not only reveal the molecular mechanisms
but also map brain regions and cells responsible for sleep regulation, thus gaining an understanding of the
systems involved in sleep quality/efficiency regulation. We have used our short sleep mouse models and
Alzheimer-like disease mouse models to demonstrate that these short sleep mutations offer protective effects
against the development and the progression of AD-like pathology. This finding has the revolutionary implication
that quality sleep can help prevent many diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders. My research aims to
understand how sleep quality is regulated and thus know how quality sleep can be obtained. The results from
this research program will have long-lasting beneficial effects on human healthy longevity.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10847509
- **Project number:** 5R35NS132160-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** YING-HUI FU
- **Activity code:** R35 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $589,324
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-05-25 → 2031-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10847509

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10847509, Investigating sleep efficiency mechanism and its impact on diseases (5R35NS132160-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10847509. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*