# Genetic and Neuronal Mechanisms that Regulate Zebrafish Sleep - DIVERSITY SUPPLEMENT

> **NIH NIH R35** · CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · 2024 · $81,412

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Sleep disorders are pervasive and cost approximately $100 billion a year, yet the mechanisms that regulate
sleep are still poorly understood. Previous sleep research has focused on neurons and some neuronal factors
that regulate the homeostatic process of sleep. However, an understanding of how astrocytes, a type of glial
cell, contribute to the sleep homeostat is less well understood. We propose a series of experiments to investigate
the role of astrocytes in regulating homeostatic sleep need which exploit key features of larval zebrafish. The
advantages of using larval zebrafish for this purpose is their amenability to whole-brain calcium imaging, with
single cell resolution, which is possible due to their transparency and relatively small but conserved vertebrate
brain, as well as their amenability to large-scale behavioral assays. Using larval zebrafish and our custom-built
two-photon selective plane illumination microscope (2P-SPIM), we will perform several imaging and perturbation
experiments that record whole-brain astrocyte activity in both natural and induced sleep and wake states. We
then will apply computational tools to segment individual astrocytes and identify astrocytes that may encode the
sleep homeostat. In addition, we will use optogenetic, chemogenetic, and loss-of-function perturbation
approaches to test for functional roles of astrocytes in sleep. This diversity supplement application describes an
experimental and conceptual career development plan for a graduate student whose experimental goals are to
(1) test the hypothesis that astrocytes encode homeostatic sleep need in zebrafish, (2) test the hypothesis that
stimulation of astrocytes results in increased sleep, and (3) test the hypothesis that inhibition or loss of astrocytes
results in decreased sleep. We also describe a detailed career development plan that addresses key gaps in the
graduate student’s training. This diversity supplement application directly relates to the parent grant that
proposes to explore neuronal mechanisms that underlie zebrafish sleep by extending these studies to astrocytes.
Thus, the experiments described in the diversity supplement application are separate from, yet synergize with,
those described for neuronal mechanisms in the parent grant. Together, the parent grant and diversity
supplement have the potential to transform our understanding of mechanisms that regulate sleep homeostasis,
which is important as sleep disorders impose physical and economic burdens on society.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11087989
- **Project number:** 3R35NS122172-04S1
- **Recipient organization:** CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
- **Principal Investigator:** David Aaron Prober
- **Activity code:** R35 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $81,412
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2024-09-01 → 2029-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11087989

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11087989, Genetic and Neuronal Mechanisms that Regulate Zebrafish Sleep - DIVERSITY SUPPLEMENT (3R35NS122172-04S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11087989. Licensed CC0.

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