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SPOKANE, Wash.—A team of sleep researchers from Washington State University has received a $1.5 million grant award from the W.M. Keck Foundation—a philanthropic institution supporting innovative research in science, engineering and medicine—to test a new theory of the brain organization of sleep.

The award enables a team of sleep and neuroscience researchers from the Pullman and Spokane campuses, led by principal investigator Gregory Belenky, director of the WSU Sleep and Performance Research Center, to test the revolutionary new theory first proposed by WSU neuroscientist, James Krueger and his colleague the late Ferenc Obal. Challenging the prevailing view that sleep is imposed globally on the brain by central sleep-regulatory circuits, the team argues that sleep develops locally in the brain from use-dependent metabolic changes in cortical columns and other neuronal assemblies and that it is the coalescence of numerous areas of local sleep that leads to whole-brain sleep.  

With the award from the W.M. Keck Foundation, this interdisciplinary team of researchers will develop and integrate novel electrophysiological, imaging, and behavioral measures and new instrumentation developed by David Rector, another WSU neuroscientist, and his collaborators, WSU electrical engineer George LaRue and WSU physicist Matt McCluskey. These advances will allow this team to evaluate the functional and metabolic state of individual cortical columns in the brain to test their theory. In parallel to basic research studies conducted in Pullman, the application of these novel methods by Belenky and Hans Van Dongen, WSU Spokane specialist in sleep deprivation and performance, to human subjects studied at the in-residence laboratory of the Sleep and Performance Research Center will provide critical tests of the theory. 

“This research will be instrumental in understanding the regulation of sleep and its effect on performance in health and disease and will advance the development of new means to manage sleep to sustain effective performance,” Belenky said. “This research will lead to a paradigm shift in the study of human sleep and performance and, more broadly, affect theory, modeling and experimentation in the fields of neuroscience, biology and psychology.”  

James Petersen, vice provost for research at WSU, applauded the efforts of the research team in securing the award to fund this novel research project. “This award is very significant,” he said, “not only because of its magnitude, but also because it is from the Keck Medical Research line, which typically funds institutions with major medical schools. Receiving such an award is an indication of the strength of the collaboration between researchers in Pullman and Spokane, as well as the quality of the medical research led by this team.”  

Belenky and his colleagues said they are grateful to the W.M. Keck Foundation for the opportunity afforded by this award. They look forward to collaborating on research that will revolutionize the scientific study and conceptualization of sleep and lead to new ways to manage sleep and sustain performance, safety, and well-being in our increasingly complex, 24-7 world.

About the W.M. Keck Foundation

The W.M. Keck Foundation was established in 1954 in Los Angeles by William Myron Keck, founder of The Superior Oil Company. As one of the nation's largest philanthropic organizations, with assets of more than $1 billion, the Foundation invests in people and programs that are making a difference in the quality of life. Grant programs cover five broad focus areas: science and engineering research; undergraduate science and engineering; medical research; liberal arts; and Southern California.  

About Sleep Research at WSU
The interdisciplinary sleep research team at WSU successfully links the strengths of both the Spokane and Pullman campuses. With the Krueger and Rector laboratories in Pullman doing basic sleep research in animals and the Belenky and Van Dongen laboratories doing basic and applied sleep research in Spokane, the team covers the entire range of sleep and performance-related research.

About WSU
Washington State University is one of just 95 public and private research universities with very high research activity, according to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching classifications. In addition, “U.S. News & World Report” ranks WSU as one of the top public research universities in the nation. WSU Spokane is also headquarters for the university’s Division of Health Sciences, which aligns WSU programs that contribute to improving human health. 

Related Links:

W.M. Keck Foundation: www.wmkeck.org

$3.5 Million Federal Funding Earmarked for New Initiative: http://wsunews.wsu.edu/detail.asp?StoryID=4688  

WSU Spokane Sleep Researchers Receive Defense Instrumentation Grant: http://wsunews.wsu.edu/detail.asp?StoryID=5897

Sleep Scientist Expands WSU’s Sleep and Performance Research: ht0tp://wsunews.wsu.edu/detail.asp?StoryID=5502  

Rector’s work improves on MRI: http://www.wsutoday.wsu.edu/completestory.asp?StoryID=1037 

The Secrets of Sweet Oblivion:

http://washington-state-magazine.wsu.edu/stories/2006/February/sleepmain.html

Neuroscientist named sleep society’s distinguished scientist: http://www.wsutoday.wsu.edu/completestory.asp?StoryID=3067

WSU Office of Research: www.research.wsu.edu
WSU Spokane Research Programs: www.spokane.wsu.edu/research&service/index.asp
WSU Spokane: www.spokane.wsu.edu

Note to Editors: A formal public announcement is slated for February 23, at 2 p.m. on the Riverpoint Campus in the South Campus Facility Court at 412 E. Spokane Falls Blvd., Spokane. Congresswoman Cathy McMorris-Rodgers and other community leaders will be present. Members of the research team will be available for interview at the conclusion of the announcement. Please contact Becki Meehan for more information.

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