David Prober

Research Interests

A person can reject food, abstain from sex and control his or her thirst, but cannot keep from falling asleep. What is the genetic and neuronal basis for this insistent bodily need, why is it observed in essentially all multicellular animals, and how is it regulated? Despite years of study, answers to these questions remain elusive. We are using zebrafish as a new model to discover and understand genetic and neuronal circuits that regulate sleep.