Sleep and memory brain activity linked to Alzheimer’s changes
Official title: Cortical-hippocampal brain dynamics during sleep following spatial learning in rodents modeling Tau and AB aggregation feature of Alzheimer's disease
Funded at Florida State University · NIH-11384189 · Data updated 2026-11-12
Researchers are looking at how sleep affects memory-related brain activity in mouse and rat models of Alzheimer's disease to better understand why people lose spatial memory.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Florida State University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Tallahassee, United States) |
| Project start | February 15, 2021 |
| Project end | January 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $87,506 |
| NIH project number | 3R01AG070094-05S1 |
| Project ID | NIH-11384189 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
This project does not enroll people now, but future human studies based on these findings would likely include people with early-stage Alzheimer's disease or mild cognitive impairment.
✕Less likely to help
Because this is animal-focused research, people with advanced Alzheimer's, non-Alzheimer's dementias, or unrelated health conditions are unlikely to receive direct benefit from this grant.
What this research studies
This project looks at how brain areas that support memory — the hippocampus and cortex — talk to each other during sleep after learning a navigation task. Scientists will use a triple-transgenic mouse model and a transgenic rat that develop amyloid and tau changes similar to human Alzheimer's, train the animals on spatial tasks, and record brain activity during sleep. They will compare brain signals and memory performance between animals with Alzheimer-like pathology and control animals to identify altered sleep-related rhythms. The team will use cross-species confirmation to strengthen findings that could inform future human studies.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could reveal sleep-related brain signals or processes that point to early diagnostic markers or new ways to protect memory in Alzheimer's disease.
How similar studies have gone: Previous human and animal studies support a role for sleep in memory and show disrupted hippocampal-cortical communication in Alzheimer's, but examining these specific sleep dynamics in Tau and Aβ aggregation models is relatively novel.
Where this research is happening
-
Florida State University
Tallahassee, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Wilber, Aaron a — Florida State University
- Study coordinator: Wilber, Aaron a
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.