Postdoc Fellow/Post-Bac Associate Award 2022: Van Thuan Nguyen (Ashley lab)

Institution: Western Kentucky University

Department: Biology

Rank: Postdoctoral Fellow (Noah Ashley lab)

Project Title: Sympathetic regulation of inflammation from sleep fragmentation

About the project: Research in the Ashley lab is currently focusing on how stress and inflammation interact during sleep loss. We use mouse models to mimic sleep disruptions that occur in humans with obstructive sleep apnea. In most circumstances, stress tends to suppress the immune system, but we report that stress responses and inflammatory markers are elevated from fragmented sleep.

Dr. Van Thuan Nguyen is a new postdoctoral fellow in our lab and supported by a KY INBRE postdoctoral fellow award. He is bringing his expertise in cell culture techniques to understand how microglia in the brain contributes to the inflammatory response in sleep-fragmented mice.