Our Fourth Annual COBRAS Symposium was held on Monday, May 19, 2025
May 19, 2025
Holden Auditorium, Farrell Learning and Teaching Center
1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Keynote Speaker: Gina Poe, PhD
“Dream Productions: Sleep Features Supporting Synaptic Reorganization, Memory and Mental Health”
Abstract:
Discoveries from my lab and others have assembled a coherent understanding of the functions of electrical and chemical phenomena that are unique to sleep. Features such as sleep spindles, PGO waves, slow oscillations, and a large, steady theta rhythm synergistically function to reorganize the brain in light of new information. This process is key to mental health, memory, and creativity and is only possible during the “offline” states of sleep. The combination of key sleep elements and their precise relationships cannot be replaced by caffeine or with neurotransmitter profiles induced by sleeping pills. We will explore why and how critical synaptic reorganization occurs during sleep and what happens when sleep and circadian features do not align. We will also explore remaining critical unanswered questions and possible avenues of translation of what we do know into sleep aids.