CV
Click Here for Sara Mednick’s Curriculim VitaeFunding Sources
Ongoing
2007-2012 Principal Investigator: K01 Career Development Award
(K01MH080992 – 01) Understanding memory consolidation by studying
pharmacologically enhanced naps.
The Career award enabled me to add pharmacological mechanisms to my set
of tools for exploring sleep-dependent memory consolidation. The goal
of this grant is to understand the pharmacological basis for
sleep-dependent memory consolidation. Over five years, I will be
running three studies, 1) a dose response nap study, 2) a nap study
with two optimal doses of drugs that enhance SWS and stage two sleep,
examining the effect of pharmacologically enhanced naps on three
different memory domains, and 3) an fMRI study examining the brain
mechanisms of pharmacological manipulation of sleep stages on memory
consolidation.
2007-2012 Jazz Pharmaceuticals Investigator initiated study This grant supported my K01 with free sodium oxybate and placebo
Completed
2008-2009 Academic Senate Award
The effects of illumination on nap architecture
The goal of this study is to examine whether daytime sleep is affected
by light using light emitting goggles of across a wide range of
intensities. We found the unlike nighttime sleep, illumination does not
interfere with sleep onset or sleep architecture in a daytime nap.
2006 – 2007 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
Comparing the effects of Modafinil, Napping and Caffeine on perceptual learning and deterioration.
This study compared caffeine, modafinil, placebo and sleep on three
different forms of memory: perception, motor, and verbal declarative.
We found discrete enhancements and decreases in performance in the drug
and sleep conditions, which suggests that different underlying
mechanisms support these different memory domains.
2003 – 2006 Recipient: National Research Service Award, (NIH/NEI # F32
EY015564-01) Neural Basis of Sleep-Dependent Learning &
Deterioration
This NRSA used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the
neural correlates of perceptual learning and deterioration. We mapped
the retinotopic areas of visual cortex and trained people on the
texture discrimination task multiple times in one day. Subjects who
napped showed no change in performance or change in BOLD activity.
Non-nappers, however, showed significant decreases in performance that
was correlated with decreases in BOLD activation in primary visual
cortex. Thus, we showed the direct relationship between nap-dependent
performance maintenance and brain activity.