Metabolic & epigenetic disorders of adolescence sleep deprivation

  • Project leader:Prof Philippe Collas (coordinator), Dr. Nolwenn Briand, Dr. Charlotte Boccara, Prof. Ørjan Martinsen (UiO Physics Institute)
  • Info:Obesity and bad sleep habits among teenagers are two linked and rising health concerns. Studies trace obesity to poor sleep hygiene: this is worrisome because adolescents get less and less sleep, and obese children have a strong risk of developing cardiometabolic diseases later in life. We do not know why sleep is important for metabolic health. We have formed a consortium, SmartSense, where neurophysiologists and physicists are developing mouse models of sleep deprivation and new “smart” sensors so we can wirelessly monitor brain-fat tissue crosstalk. Our lab will study how sleep deprivation during adolescence affects adipose tissue development and the emergence of metabolic disorders later in life. Our core hypothesis is that this long-term effect is written as an epigenetic code during adolescence and remains for the rest of our life, as an epigenetic memory of sleep deprivation.
  • Launch Project

Project participants

The SmartSense Consortium: Dr. Nolwenn Briand (PI - adipose tissue), Dr. Charlotte Boccara (PI - neurophysiology / sleep), Dr. Damien Dufour (former postdoc - adipose tissue maturation), Dr. Natalia M. Galigniana (postdoc - epigenetics), Dr. Jie Hou (postdoc, UiO Physics), Florian Dapsance (PhD student, UiO Physics), Prof. Ørjan Martinsen (PI; UiO Physics  - sensor technology), and associated lab members

Obesity and bad sleep habits among teenagers are two linked and rising health concerns. Studies trace obesity to poor sleep hygiene: this is worrisome because adolescents get less and less sleep, and obese children have a strong risk of developing cardiometabolic diseases later in life. We do not know why sleep is important for metabolic health.

Ongoing research

We have formed a consortium, SmartSense, where neurophysiologists and physicists are developing mouse models of sleep deprivation and new “smart” sensors so we can wirelessly monitor brain-fat tissue crosstalk. Our lab studies how sleep deprivation in young mice affects adipose tissue development and emergence of metabolic disorders later in life. Our hypothesis is that this long-term effect is epigenetically encoded during adolescence and recalled later in life.

Recent findings

We recently started.... Check with us later!