Current Studies

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Our research will be looking at the individual health, lifestyle, and environmental factors associated with healthy ageing, including which factors influence who responds best to sleep interventions. We hope to better understand the things that contribute to a healthier brain, so that we can target modifiable factors (e.g., sleep) to reduce risk of dementia or cognitive impairment. 

Eligible participants will:

• Be aged 60-75

• Be a healthy, regular sleeper

• Have no diagnosed cardiovascular disorders

• Have no diagnosed sleep disorders

• Have no diagnosed psychiatric disorders

The study will involve: 
Phase 1
1) A telephone interview to determine eligibility
2) An in person consent meeting and cognitive testing
3) An overnight sleep disorder screen in your home and an ECG
Phase 2
1) Two weeks of at home monitoring of your sleep: one with acoustic tones to enhance deep sleep, and one without
2) Two daytime cognitive testing sessions at the end of each week
Phase 3
1) A week of at home monitoring
2) An overnight stay in the Austin Health Sleep Laboratory with cognitive testing and blood sampling
Phase 4
1) MR-PET scan of your brain

You will be reimbursed $1000 for completing the study and will be offered personalised reports of your sleep and cognition.

Click here to sign up

We are currently recruiting participants aged 40-55y to take part in a study investigating the role of peri-menopause on sleep and brain health, and to investigate how hormones such as oestrogen may have a protective role against Alzheimer’s Disease risk. By focusing on this key window of change, our goal is to understand and reduce women’s risk of Alzheimer’s disease by highlighting critical targets for early intervention – years before disease development.

Eligible participants will:

• Be aged 40-55

• Be currently experiencing peri-menopause

• Have no history of hormone therapy

• Have no medical or neurological disorders

The study will involve:

1) A telephone interview to determine eligibility

2) An in person consent meeting and cognitive testing

3) 28 days of at home monitoring of your sleep with regular saliva sampling

4) An overnight stay in the Austin Health Sleep Laboratory with cognitive testing

5) MRI scan of your brain

Participants will be reimbursed $400 for completing the study.

Click here to sign up

This study aims to establish comparative crash risk following sleep loss and alcohol consumption, and participation in this study involves completing 2 afternoon track drives under the influence of alcohol (within legal limits <0.05% BrAC).

Eligible participants will:

• Be aged 21-35

• Have a full driver's license and drive regularly

• Drink alcohol regularly

• Be a healthy, regular sleeper

• Have no medical, psychiatric or sleep disorders

• Not be of North Asian descent (due to possible genetic differences in alcohol metabolism)

The study will involve: 

1) A telephone interview and online questionnaires to determine eligibility

2) An in-person meeting to provide formal consent

3) Two weeks of at home sleep monitoring

4) Two laboratory visits each with a 2-hour drive

5)Consumption of alcohol up to a breath alcohol concentration of 0.05% prior to each drive

You will be reimbursed $400 for completing the study.

If you would like to be informed about future studies from our research lab, you can fill out the short survey to register for our volunteer database which contacts members about upcoming studies they may be suitable for.

To join, click here and you will be asked to complete a short questionnaire about your demographics and health.