Giulio Tononi, MD, PhD
Professor of Psychiatry, David P. White Chair of Sleep Medicine
Distinguished Chair in Consciousness Science, University of Wisconsin
Awarded in celebration of the life and research of Dr. Giulio Tononi, for his landmark discoveries in the field of sleep research, pioneering the role played by sleep in synaptic plasticity, learning and memory.
Specifically, his scientific contributions include:
- Discovering the effects of sleep and sleep deprivation on gene expression in the brain, including the identification of differential expression of genes related to synaptic modification during sleep
- Developing and explaining the Synaptic Homeostasis Hypothesis for the role of sleep in rebalancing synaptic inputs to neurons that are modified as a result of waking experience
- Providing evidence from serial electron microscopy of the changes that occur in synapses over sleep and wakefulness
- Demonstrating the role of local sleep in cortical areas with high utilization during wakefulness
- Discovering that local sleep can occur during wakefulness
Harvard Medical School
Division of Sleep Medicine
2017 Peter C. Farrell Prize in Sleep Medicine Recipient
See more information about the 2017 Sleep and Health Benefit Dinner.