Double success for Exeter’s sleep and circadian researchers

Exeter Fellows Dr Lukas Krone and Dr Aarti Jagannath have successfully secured seed funding through Oxford’s prestigious John Fell Fund to advance their research into sleep and circadian neurobiology with ground breaking new technologies. 

Dr Krone, the current Staines Medical Research Fellow, will test a new pharmacological approach that may help overcome the adverse effects of current hypnotics and improve waste clearance from the brain in his project “Harnessing the Health Benefits of Sleep with Targeted Pharmacology”.  

Dr Aarti Jagannath, a Supernumerary Fellow and a BBSRC David Phillips Fellow at the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute within the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neuroscience, has assembled a consortium of sleep and circadian researchers at Oxford, including Dr Krone, which will use cutting-edge monitoring technology for motor activity in mice to study sleep-wake rhythms. The new sensor system will allow researchers to explore the effects of novel sleep-modulating drugs under normal day-night patterns and during light-dark conditions that mimic jet lag. 

Together, the ambitious research agenda of Exeter’s sleep and circadian neuroscientists aims to improve brain health by alleviating sleep disruption and mitigating the effects of conditions such as jet lag, shift work, and insomnia disorder.

Dr Lukas Krone and Dr Aarti Jagannath