# Functional Analysis of Sleep Promoting Neurons in Health and Disease

> **NIH NIH R01** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $327,963

## Abstract

Sleep, selective-attention and memory consolidation are adversely impacted by many, if not
most, neurological conditions. Interestingly, recent studies suggest that neuronal activity
during waking may alter the risk for developing Alzheimer's disease. With this in mind, we
have identified a genetically-tractable neural circuit that is impacted by Alzheimer's disease
and is also uniquely suited for dissecting the dynamic, bi-directional relationship between
sleep and cognition. That is, we are less interested in defining a minimal set of neurons that
control a behavior than we are in understanding how these neurons interact (e.g., via a sleep-
cognitive connectome). In this proposal we will investigate how connected structures in the fly
brain work together to regulate sleep and cognition during health and in the context of
Alzheimer's disease. Since we have recently demonstrated that the power of sleep can be
harnessed to reverse cognitive impairments in a Drosophila model of Alzheimer's disease, a
goal of this proposal will be to define the functional properties of circuits that confer the
benefits of sleep to cognitive processes.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9921498
- **Project number:** 5R01NS076980-10
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** PAUL J SHAW
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $327,963
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2011-09-01 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9921498

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9921498, Functional Analysis of Sleep Promoting Neurons in Health and Disease (5R01NS076980-10). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9921498. Licensed CC0.

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