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Psychiatric Genetics & Translational Research Seminar: Sleep & Psychiatric Illness
Posted October 8, 2009
The Psychiatric Genetics & Translational Research Seminar presents:
“Sleep, Memory, and Dreams: Roles in Psychiatric Illness?”
Robert Stickgold, PhD
Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Director, Center for Sleep and Cognition, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Tuesday, October 13, 2009, 11:00 am - 12:00 noon
Garrod and Mendel Conference Room
Simches Research Center, 2nd Floor
Massachusetts General Hospital
185 Cambridge Street, Boston
It is becoming increasingly clear that sleep plays an important role in the off-line reprocessing of both recent and remote memories. Although it is less clear what role the failure of such processing plays in psychiatric illness, there is growing evidence that such failures can exacerbate, trigger, or even cause major psychiatric illnesses.
Dr. Stickgold’s current work looks at the nature and function of sleep and dreams from a cognitive neuroscience perspective, with an emphasis on the role of sleep and dreams in memory consolidation and integration. In addition to studying the normal functioning of sleep, he is currently investigating alterations in sleep-dependent memory consolidation in a range of neurological and psychiatric conditions, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, Parkinson’s disease, cocaine addicts, PTSD, insomnia, and sleep apnea.
The Psychiatric Genetics and Translational Research Seminar is a weekly seminar sponsored by the MGH Department of Psychiatry’s Psychiatric Genetics Program in Mood and Anxiety Disorders (led by Harvard Catalyst Translational Genetics Program Director Jordan Smoller, MD, ScD). Devoted to genetic, clinical, and translational research in psychiatry, the seminar series is open to investigators, clinicians, and trainees.
The series takes place every Tuesday from 11:00 am - 12:00 noon in the Garrod and Mendel Conference Room on the 2nd floor of MGH’s Simches Research Building (185 Cambridge Street, Boston).
Harvard Medical School is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. Harvard Medical School designates this educational activity for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
To register, or for more information, please contact Talia Goldsmith (E-mail, 617-724-9076).