Washington University in St. Louis (WU)
My research focuses on understanding how sleep and circadian dysfunction reflect and contribute to neurodegenerative disease. I am particularly interested in 4R tauopathies, including frontotemporal dementia and progressive supranuclear palsy, where sleep–wake disturbances often emerge early and may serve as biologically meaningful indicators of disease progression. My work integrates mechanistic studies in physiologically relevant tauopathy mouse models with analyses of human polysomnography and EEG data. Using antisense oligonucleotide–based strategies and machine-learning approaches, I aim to identify sleep signatures linked to tau-mediated neural circuit dysfunction and to determine whether these abnormalities are therapeutically modifiable. Ultimately, my goal is to establish sleep physiology as a quantitative biomarker that bridges basic neuroscience, translational research, and the development of targeted therapies for neurodegenerative disorders.