# Investigating the neurocircuitry of sleep duration regulation

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2020 · $565,805

## Abstract

Abstract
Sleep is essential for the maintenance of our cognition and neurological functions, and both quality and
quantity of sleep are critical. We likely have known this for the entire human history. Yet, we remain
astonishingly ignorant on how the quality and quantity of sleep are regulated. Excitingly, nature has provided
us a very small number of human subjects who are genetically wired to sleep shorter hours per day (thus more
efficiently). These people usually live a long and healthy (both physically and mentally) life. Identification of
genetic changes in these people provides us concrete and specific molecules that are in the sleep
duration/efficiency pathway. These molecules offer opportunities to not only map brain regions and cells for
sleep regulation but also will lead us to gain understanding of neurocircuitry of sleep duration/efficiency. In this
proposal, we will use integrated approaches to understanding how neurocircuit activities work in concert to
regulate sleep duration/efficiency. Our hypothesis is that there exist unique neurocircuits for sleep duration and
efficiency that are separate from the circuits for sleep-promoting and wake-promoting. Our experimental design
outlined here is based on this hypothesis to reveal these circuits in a systematic way. We will first identify
specific cell types with our gene-specific Cre mice. We will then generate a functional circuit diagram by
mapping their projections. The role and function of these cells in sleep regulation will be tested in the context of
circuit by linking the activity of these cells to sleep with precise interventional tools that change neural circuit
dynamics. The results from this study will reveal how dynamic patterns of neural activity are transformed into
efficient sleep. We will simultaneously monitor sleep state with EEG/EMG recording while actively recording
and manipulating dynamic patterns of neural activity of specific cells. The results obtained from this study will
provide a fundamental understanding of brain circuits for sleep duration/efficiency maintenance. Since quality
sleep is the basis of healthy brain (cognitive and neurological function), understanding of how quality sleep
circuit is obtained will not only shed new light on how poor sleep can lead to unhealthy brain but also give
insight into mechanisms for treating brain dysfunctions.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9828629
- **Project number:** 5R01NS104782-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** YING-HUI FU
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $565,805
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-12-19 → 2022-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9828629

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9828629, Investigating the neurocircuitry of sleep duration regulation (5R01NS104782-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9828629. Licensed CC0.

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