As anyone who has ever lain awake in the dark hours after going to bed will attest, sleep is complicated and a lack of it can be disruptive to every aspect of one’s life. Deep sleep is important for a number of brain functions, and essential in clearing the brain of toxic proteins such as beta-amyloid, which can accumulate in the brain over the course of the day. Beta-amyloid proteins contribute to the plaques that form in the brain in disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr. Brianne Kent has been conducting her postdoctoral research in Dr. Haakon Nygaard’s lab since 2015, studying sleep and the role of circadian rhythms—the body’s internal clock—and how those patterns change in Alzheimer’s disease. In early 2019, with generous career transition support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Kent will be taking on a new role with the Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
