Workshop to Consider the Feasibility of a Sleep/Circadian Rhythms Gene Chip

描述（由申请人提供）：在过去的35年里，睡眠障碍医学的进步导致了该领域的发展，从孤立的个体医生到拥有数千名成员的美国睡眠医学学会组织的符合董事会资格的亚专业。睡眠障碍在一个国际分类系统中被描述和定义，现在是第二版。睡眠障碍的社会负担——除了睡眠不足和睡眠时间不佳带来的负担之外——是巨大的。目前，美国国立卫生研究院至少有10个独立的研究所资助了有关睡眠和/或昼夜节律系统疾病的研究。自20世纪70年代以来，基本睡眠和昼夜节律的研究也取得了进展。昼夜节律计时系统的神经生物学已经被解剖，随着科学家使用各种方法和有机体来识别关键的分子成分，昼夜节律计时的分子生物学正在解开。事实上，这些进步已经导致了昼夜节律紊乱的基因关联，特别是家族性睡眠阶段提前综合征（FASPS）。最近在睡眠和睡眠障碍的分子生物学方面取得了进展。一个重要的进展来自于在模型系统（如果蝇）和基因表达方法中对睡眠（或睡眠样行为）的识别。嗜眠症是一种影响人类的睡眠障碍，会遗传给狗。研究嗜眠症的科学家通过基因研究揭示了一个以前不为人知的神经系统。研究人员和临床医生在人类睡眠和昼夜节律实验室进行基因关联研究的额外方法的需求现在是显而易见的。在其他领域，例如酒精和成瘾研究中使用的一种方法是开发目标基因芯片。睡眠/昼夜节律领域是否准备好利用这种方法尚不确定。为了审查这一问题，讲习班将评估可行性，确定平行或替代方法，并取得进展，使社区为这些方法做好准备。在睡眠和昼夜节律领域从事基因发现的研究人员，对睡眠障碍的知识适用于遗传方法的临床医生，从人类身上获得表型数据的人类睡眠研究人员，以及从事其他领域基因芯片研究的科学家将聚集在一起解决这些问题。该项目的目标是为科学家和临床医生举办一个研讨会，以检验一种进行基因研究的新方法，这种方法可能会促进对人类睡眠障碍和睡眠/觉醒模式的理解。研讨会的重点技术是一种基因芯片，它将包括被认为对调节睡眠和清醒很重要的基因。研讨会还将探讨其他方法和技术，这些方法和技术可能有助于推进睡眠和睡眠障碍的基因研究。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Advances in sleep disorders medicine in the last 35 years have resulted in growth of the field from isolated individual physicians to a board-eligible subspecialty organized under the American Academy of Sleep Medicine with several thousand members. Sleep disorders are described and defined in an international classification system now in a second edition. The societal burden of sleep disorders-in addition to burdens arising from insufficient and ill-time sleep-is substantial. At least 10 separate institutes of the NIH currently fund research on diseases of the sleep and/or circadian rhythms systems. Basic sleep and circadian rhythms research have also progressed since the 1970s. The neurobiology of the circadian timing system has been dissected, and the molecular biology of circadian timing is unraveling as scientists use a variety of methods and organisms to identify key molecular components. Indeed, these advances has led to gene associations for circadian rhythms disorders, in particular the familial advanced sleep phase syndrome (FASPS). Recent progress has occurred in the molecular biology of sleep and sleep disorders. An important advance has come from the identification of sleep (or sleep-like behavior) in model systems, such as the fruit fly and in gene expression approaches. Scientists studying narcolepsy, a sleep disorder affecting humans and genetically transmitted in dogs, exposed an previously unknown neural system through genetic studies. The need for additional methods for gene association studies by investigators and clinicians in human sleep and circadian rhythms laboratories is now apparent. One approach used in other fields, e.g., alcohol and addiction studies, is to develop a targeted gene chip. Whether the sleep/circadian rhythms field is ready to take advantage of this method is uncertain. To examine this issue, a workshop will assess feasibility, identify parallel or alternative approaches, and make strides to prepare the community for such approaches. Investigators engaged in gene discovery in the sleep and circadian rhythms areas, clinicians whose knowledge of sleep disorders amenable to genetic approaches, human sleep researchers who have obtained phenotypic data from humans, and scientists engaged in gene chip research in other fields will come together to address these questions. This goal of this project is to hold a workshop for scientists and clinicians to examine a new method for performing genetic studies that may advance understanding of sleep disorders and sleep/wake patterns in humans. The technique that will be the focus of the workshop is a gene chip that would include genes thought to be important to regulating sleeping and waking. The workshop will also examine other methods and techniques that may help advance the genetic study of sleep and sleep disorders.