Ambulatory monitoring and biospecimen storage equipment for research on the brain restoration function of sleep to maintain waking performance
Abstract
AMBULATORY MONITORING AND BIOSPECIMEN STORAGE EQUIPMENT FOR RESEARCH ON THE BRAIN RESTORATION FUNCTION OF SLEEP TO MAINTAIN WAKING PERFORMANCE Abstract Recently Completed and Proposed DoD funding contacts: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Biological Technologies Office (BTO) Geoffrey Ling, M.D., Ph.D. (geoffrey.ling@darpa.mil), Director, BTO, DARPA Office of Naval Research (ONR) Lt. Cmdr. Christopher Steele, Ph.D., (christopher.steele4@navy.mil), Program Manager, Warfighter Protection and Application Division, ONR Military personnel routinely experience sleep loss and circadian disruption—inherent consequences of 24/7 military operations -- yet this increases the risk of error and accident due to performance deficits, including decreased vigilance, increased errors and impaired decision making. Vulnerability to sleep deprivation and circadian disruption differs widely across individuals; some people show severe impairments in response to sleep loss, whereas others maintain high levels of performance. Identifying which personnel are most resilient to the effects of sleep deprivation and circadian misalignment and deploying appropriately timed, personalized countermeasures for personnel most vulnerable to such effects will increase mission success. Therefore, we are requesting DURIP support for instrumentation to enhance our human performance research program to develop novel methods for identifying individuals who are resilient or vulnerable to sleep deprivation and circadian disruption, and to develop biomarkers of acute and chronic sleep deficiency and circadian disruption. This will require instrumentation to screen potential study participants, including Ambulatory Sleep Monitors; Ambulatory Activity-Rest and Light Monitors; and an ultra-low temperature biospecimen repository. This instrumentation will accelerate our ability to develop and deploy biomarker panels of vulnerability to acute and chronic sleep loss, and biomarkers of sleep deficiency and circadian disruption. This same equipment will be used in the ONR study, in which we will explore a novel function of sleep. We will attempt to demonstrate sleep-wake dynamics in brain interstitial space volume in humans as has been reported in mice. This “glymphatic” system reportedly allows potentially neurotoxic metabolic waste to be removed during sleep, and could explain the relationship between poor sleep and cognitive changes and lead to new therapies for neurodegenerative conditions. Finally, this equipment request is responsive to the FY2015 National Defence Authorization Act, which specifically mentions sleep health as an important priority area for DoD
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 12, 2016
- Source ID
- N000141512917
Entities
People
- Charles Czeisler
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- President and Fellows of Harvard College
- United States Navy