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Project Title:  Manipulating Sleep Architecture as an Operational Countermeasure Reduce
Fiscal Year: FY 2021 
Division: Human Research 
Research Discipline/Element:
TRISH--TRISH 
Start Date: 08/01/2020  
End Date: 07/31/2023  
Task Last Updated: 09/08/2022 
Download report in PDF pdf
Principal Investigator/Affiliation:   Gaidica, Matthew  Ph.D. / University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 
Address:  Department of Neuroscience 
 
Ann Arbor , MI 48109 
Email: mgaidica@umich.edu 
Phone: 650-963-6888  
Congressional District: 12 
Web:  
Organization Type: UNIVERSITY 
Organization Name: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 
Joint Agency:  
Comments:  
Co-Investigator(s)
Affiliation: 
Dantzer, Ben  MENTOR: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor  
Project Information: Grant/Contract No. NNX16AO69A-P0502 
Responsible Center: TRISH 
Grant Monitor:  
Center Contact:   
Unique ID: 14105 
Solicitation / Funding Source: 2020 TRISH-RFA-2001-PD: Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) Postdoctoral Fellowships 
Grant/Contract No.: NNX16AO69A-P0502 
Project Type: GROUND 
Flight Program:  
TechPort: No 
No. of Post Docs:
No. of PhD Candidates:  
No. of Master's Candidates:  
No. of Bachelor's Candidates:  
No. of PhD Degrees:  
No. of Master's Degrees:  
No. of Bachelor's Degrees:  
Human Research Program Elements: None
Human Research Program Risks: None
Human Research Program Gaps: None
Flight Assignment/Project Notes: NOTE: End date changed to 7/31/2023 per TRISH (Ed., 8/4/22)

NOTE: End date changed to 7/31/2022 (originally 7/31/2021) per TRISH (Ed., 11/2/20)

Task Description: POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP

Space exploration exposes humans to unique stressors that, if not addressed, compromise physical and psychological health and performance. Sleep is known to promote physiologic resilience making it paramount in challenging circumstances, but all sleep is not the same. Progressive, stereotyped sleep stages are common in mammals and form a basic structure known as “sleep architecture.” High homeostatic value has been placed on slow-wave sleep (SWS), which is the deepest state of sleep characterized synchronous 1–4 Hz brain oscillations. SWS co-occurs with important fluid rhythms and changes in neural microstructure that promote waste clearing, potentially underlying the important findings that SWS enhances memory and performance. This proposal aims to identify critical conditions for which enhancing SWS through non-invasive audio stimulation may mitigate the influence of stressors or augment performance. I propose a novel translational analog in the wild red squirrel as it is a freely behaving, tractable rodent model that exhibits human sleep patterns. The extreme northern latitude of the field site for this study provides an opportunity to investigate how a SWS countermeasure fares under varying, long-duration changes in circadian cueing. I will measure neural, cardiac, and accelerometry data to analytically describe how sleep architecture, autonomic markers of stress, and cognitive/physical performance interact. A major goal of this project is to concurrently refine the SWS countermeasure into a configurable, autonomous tool capable of being deployed towards long-duration human space missions. The perceived significance of the proposed work is to span evidence to products that bridge fundamental research towards understanding the foundations of performance and resilience while providing an operational toolset alongside empirically derived implementation strategy.

Research Impact/Earth Benefits: Bio-logger development: A low-cost solution for closed-loop brain wave stimulation does not currently exist, limiting the exploration of brain rhythm manipulation to enhance health and performance. The bio-loggers developed in my first year solve this dilemma as they are miniature, low-power, wireless-enabled, and can effectively perform “real-time” computation on incoming physiological data. Because understanding human sleep requires suitable animal models as well as technological innovations to approach new hypotheses, my project represents a significant impact on advancing current state-of-the-art techniques in animal tracking and monitoring pertinent to sleep studies. Techniques for sterilization, encapsulation, electrode fabrication, and software implementation are also considerable intellectual achievements that can be shared with the scientific community.

Analytical tools for sleep data: We developed a novel method to classify sleep-wake behavior from accelerometer data alone. The data opens new possibilities for analyzing these data, which are typically only appreciated as being useful to identify active, daytime behaviors (e.g., running, grooming, chewing). Additionally, we discovered new sleeping patterns in the red squirrel, which may serve to identify sleep architecture ideal for extreme environment/high performers, or be useful to future hypotheses concerning how sleep has evolved and translates to the human condition.

Task Progress & Bibliography Information FY2021 
Task Progress: Space exploration exposes humans to unique stressors that, if not addressed, compromise physical and psychological health and performance. Sleep is known to promote physiologic resilience making it paramount in challenging circumstances, but all sleep is not the same. Progressive, stereotyped sleep stages are common in mammals and form a basic structure known as “sleep architecture”. High homeostatic value has been placed on slow-wave sleep (SWS), which is the deepest state of sleep characterized by synchronous 1–4 Hz brain oscillations. SWS co-occurs with important fluid rhythms and changes in neural microstructure that promote waste clearing, potentially underlying the important findings that SWS enhances memory and performance. This proposal aims to identify critical conditions for which enhancing SWS through non-invasive audio stimulation may mitigate the influence of stressors or augment performance. I propose a novel translational analog in the wild red squirrel as it is a freely behaving, tractable rodent model. We recently characterized red squirrel sleep patterns using accelerometry finding that sleep is more efficient during times of high behavioral demand, such as in autumn when catching food is paramount to survival. If this particular sleep regimen was understood better, it may lead to a broader understanding of how sleep interplays with demanding environments and high performing individuals.

In the first year, we also developed a miniaturized toolset to measure neural, cardiac, and accelerometry data to analytically describe how sleep architecture, autonomic markers of stress, and cognitive/physical performance interact. In the next year, we embark on a major goal to test whether closed-loop SWS enhancement is viable in a free-ranging species, while monitoring the physiological response to environmental and social interactions/conditions. This project concludes by connecting the SWS countermeasure as a configurable, autonomous tool capable of being deployed toward long-duration human space missions. The perceived significance of the proposed work is to span evidence to products that bridge fundamental research toward understanding the foundations of performance and resilience while providing an operational toolset alongside empirically derived implementation strategy.

Bibliography: Description: (Last Updated: 01/11/2023) 

Show Cumulative Bibliography
 
 None in FY 2021
Project Title:  Manipulating Sleep Architecture as an Operational Countermeasure Reduce
Fiscal Year: FY 2020 
Division: Human Research 
Research Discipline/Element:
TRISH--TRISH 
Start Date: 08/01/2020  
End Date: 07/31/2022  
Task Last Updated: 10/22/2020 
Download report in PDF pdf
Principal Investigator/Affiliation:   Gaidica, Matthew  Ph.D. / University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 
Address:  Department of Neuroscience 
 
Ann Arbor , MI 48109 
Email: mgaidica@umich.edu 
Phone: 650-963-6888  
Congressional District: 12 
Web:  
Organization Type: UNIVERSITY 
Organization Name: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 
Joint Agency:  
Comments:  
Co-Investigator(s)
Affiliation: 
Dantzer, Ben  Ph.D. MENTOR: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 
Project Information: Grant/Contract No. NNX16AO69A-P0502 
Responsible Center: TRISH 
Grant Monitor:  
Center Contact:   
Unique ID: 14105 
Solicitation / Funding Source: 2020 TRISH-RFA-2001-PD: Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) Postdoctoral Fellowships 
Grant/Contract No.: NNX16AO69A-P0502 
Project Type: GROUND 
Flight Program:  
TechPort: No 
No. of Post Docs:
No. of PhD Candidates:  
No. of Master's Candidates:  
No. of Bachelor's Candidates:  
No. of PhD Degrees:  
No. of Master's Degrees:  
No. of Bachelor's Degrees:  
Human Research Program Elements: None
Human Research Program Risks: None
Human Research Program Gaps: None
Flight Assignment/Project Notes: NOTE: End date changed to 7/31/2022 (originally 7/31/2021) per TRISH (Ed., 11/2/20)

Task Description: POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP

Space exploration exposes humans to unique stressors that if not addressed compromise physical and psychological health and performance. Sleep is known to promote physiologic resilience making it paramount in challenging circumstances, but all sleep is not the same. Progressive, stereotyped sleep stages are common in mammals and form a basic structure known as “sleep architecture.” High homeostatic value has been placed on slow-wave sleep (SWS), which is the deepest state of sleep characterized synchronous 1–4 Hz brain oscillations. SWS co-occurs with important fluid rhythms and changes in neural microstructure that promote waste clearing, potentially underlying the important findings that SWS enhances memory and performance. This proposal aims to identify critical conditions for which enhancing SWS through non-invasive audio stimulation may mitigate the influence of stressors or augment performance. We propose a novel translational analog in the wild red squirrel as it is a freely behaving, tractable rodent model that exhibits human sleep patterns. The extreme northern latitude of the field site for this study provides an opportunity to investigate how a SWS countermeasure fares under varying, long-duration changes in circadian cueing. We will measure neural, cardiac, and accelerometry data to analytically describe how sleep architecture, autonomic markers of stress, and cognitive/physical performance interact. A major goal of this project is to concurrently refine the SWS countermeasure into a configurable, autonomous tool capable of being deployed towards long-duration human space missions. The perceived significance of the proposed work is to span evidence to products that bridge fundamental research towards understanding the foundations of performance and resilience while providing an operational toolset alongside empirically derived implementation strategy.

Research Impact/Earth Benefits:

Task Progress & Bibliography Information FY2020 
Task Progress: New project for FY2020.

Bibliography: Description: (Last Updated: 01/11/2023) 

Show Cumulative Bibliography
 
 None in FY 2020