Active Studies

The purpose of the study is to understand mechanisms of DSWPD. This study will improve our understanding of circadian rhythms in humans and may help us to create treatments and strategies for DSWPD.

Eligibility Criteria

Males and females age 16-30 with a diagnosis of delayed-sleep wake phase disorder, or late bedtimes, an inability to fall asleep, and difficulty awakening when required for school/work, or healthy people with typical bedtimes and no sleep concerns

Participant Requirements

This study is ~6.5 weeks long and involves 6 in-person lab visits to Northwestern's Chicago Campus (up to 5 visits at the Clinical Research Unit at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and 1 visit at the Sleep and Circadian Center).

• If you qualify for the study and choose to participate, there will be two visits where you will pick up research equipment to wear at home for 1-2 weeks of ambulatory monitoring before being studied in the laboratory.  The first ambulatory monitoring session is for 2 weeks and the second is for one week.
  • On the first ambulatory monitoring session we will have you answer questions about your mood and cognition and we will also ask you to wear a blood sugar monitor and track the timing of when you eat using a phone app
  • On both ambulatory monitoring sessions we will have you wear a wrist-worn sleep and light monitor plus a daily sleep log and form of when you go to bed and wake up.

• Next there will be a visit where you will spend ~66 hours (~2.75 days) in the laboratory
  • While living in the lab, you will not be aware of the time of day (e.g., no clocks, internet, cell phones), and we will schedule your activities.
  • We will ask you to remain seated in bed and awake for up to 39 hours, with the head of the bed raised.  You will be studied under dim light similar to candlelight.
  • We will frequently take saliva samples for more than 24 hours when we will ask you to stay awake for up to 39 hours. We will also take four blood samples.
  • We will also ask you to perform reaction time tests, tests of your ability to think, and to complete ratings of how you feel multiple times each day that you are in the lab.
  • We will also record your brain wave activity, muscle activity, eye movements, and heart rate when you stay awake for up to 39 hours and during sleep opportunities.
• We will then ask you to sleep normally at home for ~2 weeks, followed by 1 week of ambulatory monitoring. 
• Finally, there will be a visit where you will spend ~48 hours (~2 days) in the laboratory
  • While living in the lab, you will not be aware of the time of day (e.g., no clocks, internet, cell phones) and we will schedule your activities.
  • We will expose you to different light levels (dim light similar to candlelight and typical room light).
  • We will frequently take saliva samples.
  • We will also ask you to perform reaction time tests, tests of your ability to think and to complete ratings of how you feel multiple times each day that you are in the lab.
  • We will ask you to remain awake for up to 23 hours and remain in bed seated for ~12.5 hours
  • We will also record your brain wave activity, muscle activity, eye movements, and heart rate when you are awake and while you sleep.

Participant Compensation

If you are eligible to participate in this study, you will be financially compensated for your involvement after the screening procedures. You will be compensated $100 for each week of home activity monitoring x 3 weeks, $200 for each 24h in the laboratory x 4.75 days, $100 for transportation when you live in the laboratory (2 visits), and an additional $275 as a study completion bonus. The total compensation can be up to $1,725.

Participant Risk & Benefit

Potential risks include:

• feeling faint, nauseous or dizzy during blood sampling
• having a bruise at the blood sampling site
• discomfort with answering questions about your physical and mental health
• skin discomfort with placement of sensors on your scalp, face, arm, and torso
• discomfort when using a commode or bedpan to go to the bathroom during parts of the in-lab study
• boredom with the performance tests
• need to refrain from scheduling MRI tests until the temperature pill has passed through you naturally
• sleepiness and stomach discomfort when staying awake for up to 39 hours

You as the participant do not receive any direct benefits from this study. We expect the things we learn from this study may significantly improve our understanding of circadian rhythms in humans and may help us to create treatments and strategies for Delayed Sleep Wake Phase Disorder (DSWPD).

Learn More

If you would like more information about the study and are interested in participating, you can contact the study team through email at CCSMResearch@northwestern.edu or phone at 312-503-1948, or you can fill out a short survey and you will be contacted by the study team shortly if you are eligible to continue with the study

Insomnia disorder is common among older adults and is associated with an increased risk of developing cognitive impairment. However, the nature of this association is not well understood. The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship that links physiological arousal (the stress system) with sleep and cognitive function in older adults with insomnia and good sleeper controls.

Eligibility Criteria

Males and females 55 and older with chronic insomnia (trouble falling or staying asleep) or healthy individuals with typical bedtimes and no sleep concerns.

Participant Requirements

This study involves up to 4 visits over approximately 10 weeks: 1 remote, 2 overnight inpatient visits at the Clinical Research Unit at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and 1 outpatient visit at the Center for Circadian and Sleep Medicine (710 N. Lake Shore Dr.).

Inpatient visits will last 3 nights / 4 days. The outpatient visit takes approximately 1-2 hours to complete. During these visits, and throughout your participation in the study, you will be asked to wear an activity monitor (wristwatch), complete questionnaires and diaries about your sleep schedule, and wear a ring device to monitor your heart rate. At each of your in-patient visits, you will have your blood pressure monitored, complete a standard sleep recording each night, have blood samples taken, and complete cognitive and behavioral testing. Additionally, a test will be performed to measure changes in stress hormones in your blood.

If you have been enrolled as an insomnia participant, after your first inpatient visit, there will be an intervention period lasting approximately 4 weeks and involves morning and afternoon light exposure using a light device that you will use at home.

You will be compensated based on your level of study participation.

Learn More

Are you 50 years of age or older and have/or have had a spouse in your lifetime? The Circadian Rhythms and Sleep Research Laboratory at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University is currently conducting a research study (Survey of Sleep and Physical activity Across a Lifetime, IRB# STU00206195, led by Dr. Phyllis C. Zee) to examine whether there is a relationship between physical activity as a young person and health outcomes in older age in relationship with sleep.

The study will require you to complete a questionnaire about the sleep, physical activity and health for yourself and your spouse. The questionnaire should take 30 minutes or less to complete. Compensation will not be provided.

If you are interested in participating, please complete this survey.

Screening includes overnight stay with a full sleep study and morning blood tests. If you qualify, the full study includes oneweek of wrist actigraphy at home, saliva collectioning at home for one evening, home visit by study staff and a second overnight stay with blood tests the next morning.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages 21-50. African-American or Caucasian. Healthy adult.

Location

710 N. Lake Shore Dr., Chicago, IL.

Learn More

Complete a web survey to see if you are eligible.

For more information or to inquire about participation, contact the Circadian Rhythms and Sleep Research Lab via email at matthew.brenner-jedwabnik@northwestern.edu or by phone at 312-503-4965.

Define the relationship between APOs and markers of cardiovascular disease risk (CVDR) at two years after delivery.

Recent epidemiologic studies suggest that women with adverse pregnancy outcomes (APOs), such as preeclampsia, are at increased risk for subsequent cardiovascular diseases. However, prospective data to elucidate the precise relationship between adverse pregnancy outcomes and subsequent cardiovascular disease are lacking. To address this critical knowledge gap, the NHLBI issued a RFA to study pregnancy as a window to future maternal health.

In this study, a multidisciplinary team with diverse talents and expertise will define the relationship between APOs and markers of cardiovascular disease risk (CVDR) at two years after delivery. This multicenter group will utilize an ethnically, racially, socioeconomically and geographically diverse cohort of 10,000 nulliparous women enrolled in the NICHD-funded Nulliparous Pregnancy Outcomes Study: Monitoring Mothers-to-be (nuMoM2b). This new study will leveraged the extensive and unique database and tissue bank developed in the parent study in which nulliparous women are evaluated over the course of pregnancy to study the mechanisms for and prediction of APOs. Women enrolled in the nuMoM2b cohort are extremely well phenotyped through prospective data collection, clinical evaluations, and ultrasound assessments, as well as through the use of standardized definitions. Demographic, psychosocial, dietary, physiologic, and outcome information is collected through maternal interviews, self-administered questionnaires, clinical measurements, ultrasounds, and medical record abstraction by trained personnel. Samples of maternal blood, urine, and cervico-vaginal fluid over pregnancy and cord blood and placenta at delivery are collected and banked. All women complete two sleep questionnaires and over 3,600 are recruited to perform objective overnight sleep studies at two times during pregnancy.

Participation Requirements

Women participating in the nuMoM2b parent study will be assessed for evidence of CVDR, including sleep disordered breathing (SDB), at two to three years postpartum. APOs in subsequent pregnancies also will be assessed. These studies will characterize the relationship between APOs and CVDR, identify first pregnancy profiles that portend subsequent CVDR, determine associations between SDB during the first pregnancy and subsequent CVDR, and identify modifiable factors that mediate the associations between CVDR and APOs in the first and subsequent pregnancy. This will allow for the development of strategies to modify these CVDR factors and to improve the health of women suffering APOs.

Learn More

For more information, contact Peggy C. Campbell at 312-707-7272.

This proposal centers on the role of diet-induced stimulation of sympathetic nervous system catecholamines and uncoupling protein 1 in brown adipose tissue at different times-of-day.  Specifically, we will test the hypothesis that realignment of diet-induced thermogenesis rhythms and catecholamine biosynthesis with the light/dark cycle can be used as a countermeasure for high-fat diet induced obesity. A second major focus is to use NAD⁺ supplementation to mimic effects of time-restricted feeding and to dissect the role of the NAD⁺-SIRT1-CLOCK/BMAL1 pathway in circadian disruption with high-fat feeding.

Our long-term goal is to examine the integrated role of neural and pancreatic circadian transcription networks in the modulation of glucose and energy homeostasis. We will use inducible genetic and genomic approaches to define the chromatin regulatory mechanisms underlying clock control of b-cell glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and how the time of feeding influences meal-associated insulin secretagogues.

The program is designed to provide training to predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees in the fundamental biology and integrative physiology of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism in a disease-oriented environment.

This project is intended to examine the potential role(s) of disruption of microbial communities in the gut (dysbiosis) in mammalian adjustment to the space environment. This study was approved for flight to ISS on SpaceX 14 and launched on 6/29/18. Onboard samples are expected to be analyzed in 2019.

We are testing operationally relevant combinations of behavioral and environmental stressors on the gut microbiome. We are examining how manipulating the gut microbiota impacts resilience to stressor exposure.

This collaborative NASA-JAXA study on the International Space Station will use centrifugation-generated artificial gravity to examine the responses of multiple physiological systems (including the microbiome) to gravity levels ranging from microgravity to 1G.

This project will add measures to a cohort study in Brazil to examine detailed measures of sleep and their associations with biomarkers of cardiometabolic disease, and examine transcriptional and metabolic pathways as potential mechanisms to explain the effects of sleep on CMD development.