Sleep Research Anything But Tired At Trent
The research of Trent University's renowned sleep specialist Dr. Carlyle Smith is anything but tired. Infused by two recent funding announcements, Dr. Smith and colleagues will be moving forward with the construction of a new Sleep and Electrophysiology Lab and the investigation of the relationship between sleep, memory and aging.
A large grant from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) Innovation Fund will allow for the construction of a new sleep lab at Trent University and the purchase of state-of-the-art recording equipment as part of the University of Toronto's Centre for Biological Timing and Cognition.
The new lab and equipment will be used to pursue in depth research on all aspects of sleep. Dr. Smith is one of eight researchers from four institutions affiliated with the Centre for Biological Timing and Cognition, which received a total of $10,056,201 from CFI's Innovation Fund.
Trent University's new 900-square-foot sleep lab will feature three bedrooms, a control room, washroom, task acquisition room, and evoked responses recording room. It will be constructed in place of the current smaller lab in the Science Complex on the East Bank of the Symons Campus. Studies of sleep and cognition will also be done at a second, smaller recording location at the new long term care facility, St. Joseph's at Fleming.
The new labs will be furnished with three new 64 channel recording polygraph machines, that will allow researchers to monitor many areas of the brain simultaneously allowing brain mapping, power spectral analyses and sleep spindle counting, among other measures.
"This new equipment, housed within the new sleep labs, will allow us to look at all aspects of sleep andcognition more precisely - our recordings will be on par with those of much larger labs, thanks to the sophistication of these machines," says Dr. Smith. "Within the Centre for Biological Timing and Cognition, we will have the opportunities to study sleep across the lifespan - from the young to the elderly - as well as the relationship between sleep and circadian rhythms."
Trent University's new sleep labs will be used by undergraduate and graduate students and faculty members, who will enter into studies with other Centre for Biological Timing and Cognition researchers.
The Centre's research themes will include rhythms, cognition and achievement, the biological basis of temporal organization and learning, and, sleep, cognition and mental health. Partner institutions are the University of Toronto, Lakehead University, Trent University and University Health Network.
The Canada Foundation for Innovation is an independent corporation established by the Government of Canada in 1997, with a goal to strengthen the capability of Canadian universities, colleges, research hospitals, and other not-for-profit institutions to carry out world-class research and technology development.
Meanwhile, Dr. Smith has been awarded $48,701 from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) to investigate the relationship between sleep, memory and aging. As primary investigator, he shares the award with Dr. Kevin Peters, a new faculty member with the Department of Psychology.
Prof. Smith has focussed on the fact that certain events in sleep [rapid eye movement (REM) and Stage 2 sleep] decline with age as does memory ability. The new funding will be usedto hone in on the link between memory and sleep.
"One of the things that is seen in older individuals is that the number of eye movements goes down," said Prof. Smith. "We know that humans need lots of eye movements to have good memory and that, for motor-type memory, we need the "spindles" we see in Stage Two sleep. These drop off in some individuals as they get older. We're interested in comparing young healthy adults, like students, with older individuals who show age related decline in memory."
The grant comes through the CIHR's Institute of Aging. One of the objectives of the Institute of Aging is to develop and support strategic research projects on aging and the purpose of the pilot project program is to encourage and stimulate established investigators to enter new targeted, high priority areas in the field of aging. This year, the Institute of Aging has committed $561,574 towards the Pilot project Grant Competition to support investigators whose research falls within IA's mandate.
CIHR is Canada's premier federal agency for health research. Its objective is to excel, according to internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence, in the creation of new knowledge and its translation into improved health for Canadians, more effective health services and products and a strengthened health care system.
Posted March 23, 2004
