Professor Yang Dan's research aims to elucidate (1) how visual information is encoded and processed in the mammalian brain, and (2) how neural circuits are shaped by visual experience. Her Lab use a multidisciplinary approach combining computational analyses and experimental studies at multiple levels, from single neurons and dendrites to animal behavior.

Title: The how and why of sleep

Abstract:

Sleep is a fundamental biological process, and its disruption has profound impacts on human health. To identify neurons involved in sleep generation, we have performed whole-brain screening for sleep active and sleep promoting neurons, using a combination of optogenetics, electrophysiology, imaging, and gene expression profiling.  We found that sleep is controlled by a highly distributed network spanning the forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain, and the sleep neurons are part of the central somatic and autonomic motor circuits. This is summarized in a “motor theory of sleep control”. To address the “why” question, we propose a “catecholamine hypothesis”, in which inactivation of catecholamine signaling may be a basic process underlying how sleep interacts with the cardiovascular, immune, and neuroendocrine systems.