I have recently started in the School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience as a Research Fellow. With this newfound freedom I am exploring the behaviour of sensory systems during sleep and how animals remain vigilant whilst unconscious. I am also interested by more fundamental questions like "Why do we sleep?". By studying the effects of sleep deprivation on physiology and cognition in different species, I hope to understand the functions of sleep and whether these are ubiquitous across the animal kingdom

I am interested in the evolution and ecology of sleep. During my PhD and short postdoc in Dr Capellini's lab I studied sleep in wild animals including boar and deer using biologgers. In my current post-doc I am studying the strategies and mechanisms employed by different Drosophila species that enable them to sleep and benefit from it, yet mitigate risk

I’m a PhD student, investigating the arousal pathways during sleep and the plasticity of these in Drosophila species. I’m interested in the integration of behaviour and neuroscience and have previously undertaken projects utilising camera traps to calculate activity budgets in a variety of species including badgers and avocets. During my masters I completed a project using qPCR to study the effects of sex and estrous cycle on gene expression in the amygdala under stress conditions.

A 1st year PhD student investigating the impact of sleep deprivation on the reproductive function of Drosophila. This project will involve utilising microCT scans to visualise the impact on Drosophilae reproductive organs. Further experiments will involve investigating the effects of absent sleep on sperm motility and number of offspring. My previous master's project was pharmacology based investigating inhibitors of arterial medial calcification in human VSMCs. However, this PhD has allowed me to research another segment of biology and make the jump from cells into whole organisms. I am excited to see this project fly!