Sleep and Circadian Methods (SCM) Core

Project Summary/Abstract The goal of the COBRE Center on Sleep and circadian rhythms in child and adolescent mental health is to build a center that will help bridge the gap between sleep and circadian science and child and adolescent mental health.

The objective of the Sleep and Circadian Methods (SCM) Core is to support Project Leaders and Center investigators in the appropriate use of sleep and circadian methods across the research process.

Sleep and circadian data are complex and multimodal, requiring specialized expertise to select, acquire, score, analyze and interpret.

The SCM Core will provide this expertise to support junior investigators in all aspects of the research process starting at study design moving through data acquisition and quality control to data processing and ending at analysis and interpretation. The core will support investigators in three major domains.

First, the SCM core will assist in the selection, acquisition, scoring, analysis, and interpretation of sleep and circadian measures.

This assistance will be through curation of a resource library (e.g., recommended readings, research protocols, guides, scoring instructions, analytic syntax), provision of expert consultation, and direct assistance using time from trained technicians and research apprentices.

Second, the core will coordinate access to facilities, instrumentation, software, and database resources required for acquisition, storage, and scoring of sleep and circadian data.

This coordination will enable the COBRE- affiliated projects to utilize finite resources such as beds in the Bradley Sleep Laboratory.

Finally, the core will provide training in current best-practices and help identify innovative methods, measurement and analytic approaches to sleep and circadian science suitable for pediatric mental health populations.

Through these services, the SCM core will greatly enhance the reach of the Bradley Sleep Laboratory's specialized infrastructure and expertise, which to date have only been available to those directly employed by the laboratory.

The Long-term goal is to integrate pediatric sleep and circadian methods into Bradley Hospital infrastructure thus providing an enduring resource that will support research addressing the interplay between mental health, development, sleep, and circadian rhythms.