This seminar will be held in the Neurological Institute of New York's Auditorium (1st floor). Columbia University's Intercampus Shuttle Service is the best way to travel between campuses.

Sleep deprivation is harmful and can even cause death through unknown means. Many things go wrong in sleep deprived animals so it appears difficult to pinpoint a specific detrimental event. We show that sleep deprived flies, and mice, accumulate reactive oxygen species (ROS) and experience oxidative stress — in their intestines. Clearing ROS allows normal survival in the complete absence of sleep. Our data provide the first direct link between sleep deprivation-induced death and a specific physiological change, and offer an explanation for why this state is essential for survival. In the second part of my talk, I will describe how the brain decides (on a molecular and circuit level) if mating is appropriate in a given situation, and how it motivates the animals to engage in a courtship ritual.

For her PhD, Dr. Rogulja studied how morphogens control growth in Ken Irvine’s lab at Rutgers University. She received postdoctoral training at Rockefeller University in the lab of Michael Young, studying circadian rhythms and sleep. In her own lab at Harvard Medical School, she asks how the brain reversibly transitions between sleep and wake, how arousal threshold is elevated during sleep and why sleep is needed for survival. She also has an ongoing collaboration with the lab of Michael Crickmore to understand how motivational states are set by the brain.

Those who wish to meet the speaker during their visit should contact Jessica Kohn (Behnia Lab)

For general inquiries please contact [email protected].

The Columbia Neuroscience Seminar series is a collaborative effort of Columbia's Zuckerman Institute, the Department of Neuroscience, the Doctoral Program in Neurobiology and Behavior and the Columbia Translational Neuroscience Initiative, and with support from the Kavli Institute for Brain Science.