Advances in Sleep and Circadian Science

Abstract The Sleep Research Society (SRS) is dedicated to promoting and advancing the scientific understanding of sleep and circadian rhythms across the translational spectrum, from their molecular regulation across species, to their cross-generational transmission through genetic, epigenetic, cultural, and social forces, to their impact on health and functioning. Inexorably linked, sleep and circadian rhythms entrain and sustain physiological and behavioral processes critical to survival, such as immune, psychiatric/neurologic, metabolic, and motor functions. In 2017, circadian biologists Michael Young, Michael Rosbash, and Jeffrey Hall were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries that propelled our understanding of the molecular mechanisms controlling circadian rhythms. Advances in the molecular underpinnings of circadian rhythms have, in turn, informed our understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of sleep. Yet, despite the physiological and behavioral links between sleep and circadian rhythms, the fields of sleep and circadian science have evolved somewhat independently, limiting their reach and scope. The SRS seeks to redress this issue by organizing a unique transdisciplinary sleep and circadian science conference to promote interdisciplinary cross-talk, extensive discussion of cutting-edge science, identification of gaps in knowledge and opportunities to catalyze transdisciplinary research, and specialized programming for trainees and early stage investigators, who represent the future of this important transdisciplinary field.