Team Nelson

In Parkinson’s Disease (PD), sleep disorders and cognitive impairment markedly reduce quality of life, and yet the causes of these symptoms are unclear. In this project, we will perform parallel behavioral, physiological, and pathological assays in people with PD and mouse models of PD to determine which brain regions, cell types, and patterns of activity drive sleep and cognitive symptoms. We will test the central hypothesis that the PD-associated protein alpha-synuclein alters the physiological function of the pedunculopontine nucleus to drive sleep and cognitive disorders in PD, with synergistic contributions of locus coeruleus norepinephrine and midbrain dopamine neurons.