The primary goals of the CRSL are to obtain a better understanding and improved quantitative characterization of the mechanisms responsible for the abnormal regulation of the autonomic and metabolic control and sleep-wake states in chronic diseases or clinical syndromes, such as sleep-related breathing disorders (including sleep apnea), hypertension, metabolic syndrome, and sickle cell disease. Using a combination of noninvasive instrumentation and computational modeling, we measure and analyze the patterns arising from the spontaneous variability in key physiological variables to derive clinically useful information about the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms. Recent studies focus on determining the relative importance of (“phenotyping”) the underlying mechanisms of sleep apnea using computational modeling and sleep measurements in subjects with Down Syndrome, as well as developing technological solutions for predicting vaso-occlusive crisis in sickle-cell disease.
