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Our research investigates the cellular basis for sleep need using the microscopic worm C. elegans. With only 302 neurons, they manage to perform complex behaviors, including sleep. However, rather than sleeping on a day-night schedule, they sleep only when they really need to. So when do they need to sleep? It seems they sleep during development and, interestingly, following exposure to damaging conditions. We call this second type of sleep stress-induced sleep, or SIS. We are using the power of C. elegans genetics to identify the genes that control this sleep, and we have made the surprising finding that the main genes that control this sleep are similar to those that influence cancer in humans - namely, genes of the Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF) signaling pathway. We are using this system to learn more about EGF signaling as well as about sleep. We hypothesize that like worms, our sleep might also be driven in part by cellular damage. To learn more about our research, click on Publications above, and click on the People tab to learn more about us.