The SIG Beat

NEWS FROM AND ABOUT THE NIH SCIENTIFIC INTEREST GROUPS

Chronobiology and Sleep

BY MATTHEW PAVA, NIAAA

The Scientific Interest Group on Chronobiology and Sleep (Chrono-Sleep SIG) has been resurrected and will serve as a scientific and technical resource for researchers in the intramural research program. Sleep and circadian rhythms represent fundamental, evolutionarily conserved processes that are being investigated by many intramural researchers in various institutes and centers. The SIG will facilitate discourse aimed at advancing sleep and circadian-biology research at NIH. Furthermore, this SIG will provide a resource for intramural investigators who would like to begin incorporating measures and manipulations of sleep or chronobiological processes into their research.

The Chrono-Sleep SIG plans to have its inaugural meeting in early 2015 and to meet approximately every month thereafter (dates and times to be determined). The SIG plans to host presentations from intramural and extramural investigators who are engaged in sleep and chronobiology research. Trainees are strongly encouraged to participate. The SIG will compile and make available a membership list that will indicate members’ areas of technical expertise and research interests. This list will help to facilitate collaborations and reduce redundancies in problem solving that arise when investigators need to establish methods or protocols similar to work in another lab.

For more information, contact Matthew Pava (matthew.pava@nih.gov) or David Klein (kleind@mail.nih.gov). For information on joining the group and the LISTSERV, go to http://sigs.nih.gov/chronobiology. To read an article in the September-October 2014 issue of the NIH Catalyst about intramural researchers studying sleep, fatigue, and circadian rhythms, visit https://irp.nih.gov/catalyst/v22i5/sleep-perchance-to-research.