SRS Trainee Symposia Series

Each year, the Sleep Research Society holds a Trainee Symposia Series in conjunction with SLEEP, the Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies. Young researchers and scientists have an unparalleled opportunity to gain knowledge and experience from influential veteran sleep research professionals.

The Trainee Symposia Series is intended to foster scientific investigation, professional education and career development in sleep research and academic sleep medicine. The Trainee Symposia Series includes seminars on the science of sleep, career development and grant writing workshops, a career fair, reception and a trainee datablitz.

Attendance is free to AASM and SRS student members who are registered for SLEEP. Registration closes on April 17. Attendees must register for the Trainee Symposia Series in advance. Register for the SRS Trainee Symposia Series when you register for the SLEEP General Session. Below is the agenda for the SLEEP 2013 Trainee Symposia.

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2013 Trainee Symposia Schedule

Saturday, June 1

Grant Writing Workshops – 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM
In conjunction with this year’s Sleep Research Society Trainee Program, the SRS will now host a Grant-Writing Workshop which will take place on Saturday, June 1st from 1pm to 5pm at the Hilton Baltimore Hotel. In order to attend this free workshop, you must be registered for the Trainee Day Program.

Hosted by NIH Staff and experienced SRS grant writers, this workshop will feature two breakout sessions regarding the F and K award programs, of which attendees may choose one. The workshop will conclude with a talk by David Dinges, PhD titled “Grant Writing is Social Darwinism”.

Registration for this workshop is now full. If you would like to be placed on the wait list for this workshop, please contact Sara Rak at srak@aasmnet.org.

Welcome and Announcements – 5:00 PM – 5:30 PM
Ronald Szymusiak, PhD, SRS President (Welcome)
Phil Gehrman, PhD, TEAC Chair and Megan Ruiter, PhD, SRS Trainee Member-at-Large (Announcements)

Keynote Address – 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Eric Green, MD, PhD – Director, National Human Genome Research Institute of NIH
Human Genomics a Decade after the Human Genome Project: Opportunities and Challenges. (All)

Trainee DataBlitz – 6:30 PM – 7:00 PM

Trainee Reception & Career Fair 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM

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Sunday, June 2

Session: 1 – 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Allan Pack, MBChB, PhD
Epigenetics of sleep (Beginner)
Epigenetic mechanisms are involved in circadian regulation and gene transcription and likely in sleep mechanisms.  This session will provide an introduction to epigenetics and its use in sleep research.

Session: 1 – 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Namni Goel, PhD
Sleep deprivation and genetics (Advanced)
Understand individual differences in resilience and vulnerability to the neurobehavioral effects of sleep deprivation and discuss genetic biomarkers of such phenotypic differences.

Session: 1 – 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Michael Twery, PhD
Getting funded: NIH grant mechanisms for trainees (All)
A sophisticated understanding of funding strategies can help prepare biomedical researchers in training for successful careers.  Insights from the NIH grant competition will be used to characterize the challenges and skills applicable to early stage investigators at all levels.

Session: 1 – 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Steven Lockley, PhD
International research collaboration (Intermediate)
Review strategies for individuals wishing to develop or enhance  opportunities for international research collaborations.

Session: 1 – 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Jennifer Martin, PhD
Challenges in assessment and treatment of sleep problems in older adults with MCI, dementia and/or Alzheimer's (change title if possible to: Assessment and treatment of sleep disorders in older adults with cognitive impairment. (Intermediate/ Advanced)
This session will review current findings related to management of sleep disorders among older adults with cognitive impairment, including those with dementia. Considerations related to insomnia, sleep apnea, and other sleep disorders will be discussed.

Session: 1 – 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Jessica Payne, PhD
Memory consolidation during sleep (Intermediate)
We all understand the concept of 'sleeping on a problem'. What's actually happening to our memories and our ability to creatively process and restructure information during sleep is even more powerful than this old adage suggests.

Session: 1 – 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Paul Shaw, PhD
Understanding underlying mechanisms of sleep and sleep homeostasis through animal models (Intermediate / Advanced)
Sleep homeostasis has been considered a defining feature of sleep. In this symposium I will review various sleep deprivation methods and discuss how sleep homeostasis is being used to elucidate molecular mechanisms of sleep regulation.

Session: 1 – 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Katie Stone, PhD
Population based measurement of sleep? (All)
Review subjective and objective alternatives for assessing sleep characteristics, with particular emphasis on the advantages and limitations of each method in the context of the population-based study.

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Session: 2 – 9:10 AM - 10:10 AM
Maja Bucan, PhD
Next generation sequencing: opportunities for sleep (Beginner)
Next generation sequencing analysis is revealing hundreds of deleterious genetic variants in many genes with established roles in sleep and circadian regulation.  This session will introduce these techniques and consider sleep measures as a powerful intermediate phenotype  for future genetic studies of mental illness.

Session: 2 – 9:10 AM - 10:10 AM
Nicola Barclay, PhD
Behavioral genetics (Beginner)
Examine the background and methods of behavioural genetics and review what we have learnt about the heritability of normal sleep characteristics and sleep disorders using this approach, in terms of the genetic and environmental influences contributing to these processes.

Session: 2 – 9:10 AM - 10:10 AM
Rebecca Spencer, PhD
Transition from Postdoc to Junior faculty (Advanced)
In this session we will discuss the transition to junior faculty from job interviews to negotiations to starting your own lab.

Session: 2 – 9:10 AM - 10:10 AM
Michael Grandner, PhD
Epidemiological statistical analysis / data mining (All)
This session will focus on the following issues: (1) Getting access to existing population-level datasets, (2) Developing hypotheses in large datasets, (3) Epidemiologic statistical issues, and (4) Strengths and weaknesses of population-level sleep data.

Session: 2 – 9:10 AM - 10:10 AM
Candice Alfano, PhD
Childhood/adolescent sleep problems and risk for psychopathology (Beginner)
Discuss the relationship between sleep and emotional/behavioral problems during the school-aged years.

Session: 2 – 9:10 AM - 10:10 AM
Michael Sateia, MD
Sleep Disorders in the the DSM V and ICSD 3: Changes to Expect (Beginner /Intermediate)
This presentation will review the proposed structure and content of ICSD-3 and the relationship to sleep disorders nosology of DSM-5.  Changes from ICSD-2 and the rationale for these changes will be emphasized and clinical applications discussed.

Session: 2 – 9:10 AM - 10:10 AM
Elizabeth Klerman, MD, PhD
Sleep deprivation and human performance (Intermediate)
The effects of acute and chronic sleep deprivation on human objective performance will be discussed, including experimental design and analysis considerations.

Session: 2 – 9:10 AM - 10:10 AM
Eus Van Someren, PhD
Using brain imaging techniques in the study of sleep (Intermediate)
Brain imaging can bring new insights into the neuronal networks involved in insomnia. Importantly, findings up until now suggest that different insomnia endophenotypes exist, and are not readily discriminated by quantifying only subjective sleep complaints

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Session: 3 – 10:20 AM - 11:20 AM
Richard Horenstein, MD
Pharmacogenomics (All)

Session: 3 – 10:20 AM - 11:20 AM
Jini Naidoo, PhD
Proteomics of sleep (Beginner)
This workshop will provide a general introduction to proteomics, discuss methodologies involved in determining protein expression and post-translational modifications relevant to sleep and sleep disorders. Bio-marker determination will also be discussed.

Session: 3 – 10:20 AM - 11:20 AM
Kelly Byars, PhD
Integrating research work into clinical practice (Intermediate)
Attendees will learn strategies for conducting research within the context of clinical behavioral sleep medicine practice.

Session: 3 – 10:20 AM - 11:20 AM
Kelleen Flaherty, PhD
Scientific writing (Intermediate)
An overview of scientific/medical writing: basic skills and considerations.   Discuss medical writing from the standpoint of doing it professionally as well as requiring it as a skill as a scientist.

Session: 3 – 10:20 AM - 11:20 AM
Hawley Montgomery-Downs, PhD
Sleep and Pregnancy/Postpartum (Beginner)
Sleep disturbance and its impacts during this normative yet vulnerable period will be discussed from a developmental psychobiology perspective

Session: 3 – 10:20 AM - 11:20 AM
Levente Kapas, PhD
Interactions between sleep and metabolic disorders & obesity (Intermediate)
Discuss the significance of the bidirectional relationship between sleep and metabolism and the functional consequences for health and disease

Session: 3 - 10:20 AM - 11:20 AM
Gina Poe, PhD
Sleep and PTSD (Beginner)
PTSD is marked by sleep disturbances. We will delve into dissociable traits of REM and non-REM sleep particularly relevant to the proper integration and consolidation of memories that may well have gone awry in PTSD. Potential sleep-related treatments will be explored.

Session: 3 – 10:20 AM - 11:20 AM
Ravi Allada, PhD
Circadian Clocks Mechanisms (Intermediate)
The molecular basis of circadian clock function will be discussed including how this clock links with metabolic and sleep homeostasis pathways.

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Session: 4 – 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Emmanuel Mignot, PhD
Clinical genomics (Beginner)
Review new genetic techniques and their implication for research and genetic testing in sleep disorders.

Session: 4 – 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Aalim Weljie, MD
Metabolomics of sleep (Beginner)
Sleep has a clear influence on organismal metabolism, yet the concurrent study of metabolite levels through ‘metablomics’ approaches is only in nascent stages. This presentation will outline translational approaches to metabolomics techniques for the sleep researcher.

Session: 4 – 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Robert Stickgold, PhD
Presentation skills (All)
Dazzle them with brilliance:  Communicating your findings. Good research doesn't sell itself; you have to sell it.  This workshop will discuss how to organize and convey your message, and some easy tricks to make a Powerpoint presentation work for you instead of against you.

Session: 4 – 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Mark Aloia, PhD
Careers inside Science, Outside Academia (All)
Discuss the roles of a sleep specialist in the medical device industry.  Topics will include clinical research, innovation, working in academia as an industry partner, and business development and strategy.  The objectives are:  Inform trainees about potential career paths in the medical device industry; explore roles in clinic research within industry; how to interface with industry as a academician.

Session: 4 - 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Christine Acebo, PhD
Careers inside Science, Outside Academia (All)
Discuss the role of a Medical Science Liaison (MSL) in the Pharmaceutical industry.  What does the MSL do? What do researchers and clinicians have to offer pharmaceutical companies? What about culture shock?  How hard is it to find a position?

Session: 4 – 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Carole Marcus, MBBCh
Pediatric OSA (Advanced)
This session will discuss controversial issues, unanswered questions and research approaches in regard to pediatric obstructive sleep apnea, including specific challenges in studying children.

Session: 4 – 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Colin Espie, PhD
Alternative delivery models of CBTI (Intermediate)
This workshop will cover a range of evidence-based methods for delivering CBT for insomnia, with particular emphasis upon cost effective approaches such as group therapy and guided self-help online. The workshop will incorporate practical illustration and discussion of such methods in the context of a stepped care approach.

Session: 4 – 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Janet Mullington, PhD
Sleep and inflammation (Intermediate)
This presentation will cover the endocrine and immune basis for the involvement of sleep in host defense. The effects of sleep loss on response to immune challenge, as well as the immune facilitating role of sleep in defense mechnisms, will be discussed

Session: 4 – 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Girardin Jean-Louis, PhD
Sleep as an emerging marker of health disparities (Beginner)
Sleep disorders are important preventable and/or treatable conditions potentially leading to increased cardiovascular risk and disease outcomes. Evidence shows they disproportionately affect racial/ethnicminorities.  This presentation willaddress several issues: a) understanding of the complex etiology of sleep health disparities, b) challenges preventing or delaying access to adequate sleep services, c) application of evidence-based approaches to screen and treat sleep disorders to prevent cardiovascular risks, d) engagement of various stakeholders to develop and implement innovative interventions to improve sleep health literacy and e) utilization of credible venues to disseminate sleep health messages in sleep disparity communities.