# Understanding the link between sleep deprivation and oxidative stress

> **NIH NIH R01** · HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL · 2024 · $472,482

## Abstract

Project Summary
We discovered that sleep deprivation causes accumulation of free radicals (reactive oxygen
species, ROS) and oxidative stress in the gut of flies and mice. This is in large part responsible
for the premature death seen when sleep is very low. Here we propose to study what occurs
upstream and downstream of ROS accumulation. Specifically, we will ask how the lack of sleep
leads to increase in ROS, and how ROS then causes organismal death. Together, this will bring
us closer to fully understanding what sleep does for health and longevity. This is an important
problem as so many of us are chronically sleep deprived, and sleep deprivation causes or
exacerbates a whole slew of diseases.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10876334
- **Project number:** 5R01GM138872-04
- **Recipient organization:** HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL
- **Principal Investigator:** Dragana Rogulja
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $472,482
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-07-09 → 2025-05-19

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10876334

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10876334, Understanding the link between sleep deprivation and oxidative stress (5R01GM138872-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10876334. Licensed CC0.

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