Researcher spotlight

Lais Berro, Ph.D.

Research and current research interests:

“The overall goal of my research program is to identify the mechanisms involved in sleep impairment in the context of substance use disorders, and how sleep disruption can contribute to drug use and predispose relapse to drug taking, leading to a vicious cycle of drug-induced sleep impairment, relapse, and addiction. My current grant funding aims to investigate a specific brain system – the orexin/hypocretin system – as a mechanism involved in methamphetamine abuse and sleep impairment. Our work is conducted with nonhuman primates, a highly translational animal model for studying substance use disorders and sleep. We use the same electrophysiological measures used in clinical studies to investigate sleep. To study drug abuse, we use a model in which animals choose how much methamphetamine they want to consume over a specific period. Our relapse model evaluates drug-seeking behavior when methamphetamine is not available. We then give orexin antagonist treatments (e.g. Belsomra®) to investigate whether they improve sleep and stop animals from consuming or seeking methamphetamine.”