Colorado Sleep and Circadian Summer School

7th AnnualUniversity of Colorado

Sleep and Circadian Summer School

Aug 2-7, 2026

Supported byNIH/NHLBI T32 “Transdisciplinary Training in Sleep and Circadian Rhythms”, NIH/NINDS R25 "Multi-Institutional Summer Undergraduate Research Program to Promote Sleep and Circadian Research Careers",College of Arts and Sciences and the Vice Chancellor for Research, andtheDepartment of Integrative Physiology at the ֲý

Organizing committee: Keenan Kushner PhD, Andrea Lugo, Grissy Sime Mora, Gabriel Nah PhD, Maeve Sheehey, Prof. Ken Wright

The 7thAnnual Colorado Sleep and Circadian Summer School will be hybrid. Approximately 50 trainees will be selected to attend the summer school in person and have access to the full program. Some educational offerings will also be made available virtual.

The 7th Annual Colorado Sleep and Circadian Summer School is free (i.e., there is no registration fee). Trainees and/or their mentors are responsible for travel to and from ֲý as well as hotel and food.

The educational program will include morning lectures, afternoon workshops, networking sessions, and professional development sessions.

The educational program is provided by Colorado faculty and visiting faculty.

In Person Visiting Professors

  • Marie-Pierre St-Onge, PhD - Columbia University Irving Medical Center
  • Jimmy Dooley, PhD - Purdue University
  • Claudia Moreno, PhD - University of Sao Paulo
  • Hao Duong, PhD - Morehouse School of Medicine
  • Jason DeBruyne, PhD - Morehouse School of Medicine

Including educational and professional development sessions provided by some of the faculty from the Colorado T32 program

Summer School Program

All times are Mountain (MDT, UTC/GMT - 6 hours)

Sessions with a * will be provided in hybrid format via webinar

Sunday 2rd Aug – Registration and welcome – ֲý

Welcome evening for students and faculty

1800 – 1930

Registration for students, welcome and networking session

ֲý Campus 111

Monday 3rdAug – ֲý

Morning session

Introductory lectures

ֲý Campus 100

0845–0900

0900–1015

*Ken Wright, PhD- Introduction to the summer school

Plenary

*Claudia MorenoPhD– Chronobiology and Work

1015–1045 Coffee break

1045–1200

Plenary

*Jimmy Dooley PhD- Sleep and development - how REM and NREM sleep change and evolve across early development

1200–1230 Data blitz session 1
1230–1345Lunch
Afternoon sessionֲý Campus 100
1345–1500

Plenary

*Hao Anh Duong PhD - Circadian gene expression

1500–1530 Coffee break
1530–1630*KenWrightPhD–Recommendations for healthy light exposure
1645–1815

Poster session 1 (In person only) –

ֲý Campus 111

Tuesday 4th Aug – ֲý

Morning sessionLectures -ֲý Campus 100
0900-1015

Plenary

*Jason DeBrune PhD – Sleep homeostasis and circadian behavior in Angelman Syndrome: From humans to mice

1015-1045 Coffee break
1045-1200*Josie Broussard PhD - Tissue-specific insulin signaling
1200-1230 Data blitz session 2
1230-1345Lunch
Afternoon session

Afternoon workshops (in person only)

ֲý Campus 100

1345 – 1445

Grant writing– Writing a compelling Aims Page: Starting with Why

Jimmy Dooley PhD,Hao Anh Duong PhD, Josie Broussard PhD

1445 – 1515 Coffee break
1515-1630

Lab and People Management - Radical Candor and Strengths-Based Management

Josie Broussard PhD, Claudia MorenoPhD, Jimmy Dooley PhD,Hao Anh Duong PhD, Jason DeBrune PhD

1645–1815

Poster session 2 (In person only) –

ֲý Campus 111

Wednesday 5th Aug

Morning session

Lectures

ֲý Campus 100

08450-1000

Plenary

*Marie-Pierre St-Onge PhD - Bi-directional relations between diet and sleep

1000-1030Coffee break
1030-1145*Charles Hoeffer PhD - Developing machine learning approaches to scoring sleep in mouse models
1145-1300*Stacey Simon PhD - Behavioral interventions for youth sleep problems
Afternoon sessionFree afternoon - Hike/other activities

Thursday Aug 6th

Morning session

Lectures

ֲý Campus 100

0900-1015 *Rachel Rowe PhD- Thermoregulation and sleep - immune interactions
1015-1045Coffee break
1045-1200 *Oscar Gonzalez PhD- Computational modeling in sleep research
1200-1330Lunch
Afternoon session

Afternoon workshops (In person only)

ֲý Campus 100

1330-1445

1445-1515

Rigorous research methods:

  • Measuring dietary intakes and metabolism
  • Collecting data in rural communities

Marie-Pierre St-Onge PhD, Claudia Moreno, PhD, Ken Wright PhD

Coffee break
1515-1615

How to secure and succeed in postdoctoral training

  • All participating faculty mentors

1615-1730

*Careers in sleep and circadian science

  • Tina Burke, PhD
    • Supervisory Research Scientist, Associate Director Behavioral Biology Branch, Walter Reed Army Institute Research
  • Rachel Markwald, PhD
    • Senior Physiologist and Research Supervisor, Sleep and Fatigue Technical Area Lead, Naval Health Research Center
  • Cyrus Martin, PhD
    • Senior Scientific Editor, Cell Press - Current Biology
  • Michael Twery, PhD
    • NIH program officer (retired) and science advocate
  • Mark Rosekind, PhD
    • Safety, sleep/fatigue, and policy leader; Prior Member of the National Transportation Safety Board, 15th Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,Distinguished Policy Scholar Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Chief Safety Innovation Officer at Zoox
  • Amanda J. Simonton, PhD, PMHNP-BC
    • Senior Medical Science Liaison, Neuroscience, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, U.S.A, Inc.
  • Renske Lok, PhD
    • Assistant Professor, Director, cLOcK Lab, Department of Integrative Physiology, ֲý
  • Oscar C. Gonzalez, PhD
    • Assistant Professor, Director, Biophysics of Sleep and Brain State Transitions Laboratory, Department of Integrative Physiology, ֲý

Friday Aug 7th

Morning session

Lecture

ֲý Campus 100

0845-1000 *Renske Lok PhD - Big data analytics, and the do's and don'ts
1000-1030Coffee break
1030-1145

Workshop

Future opportunities in Sleep and Circadian Science

Marie-Pierre St-Onge PhD, Claudia MorenoPhD, Jimmy Dooley PhD,Hao Anh Duong PhD, Jason DeBrune PhD,RachelRowePhD,andKen Wright PhD

1145-1300Lunch
Afternoon sessionֲý Campus 100

1300-1715

*R25 Sleep and Circadian Scholar Presentations
  1. Akanksha Mathivanan
  2. Jacob Esneault
  3. Yireh Cho
  4. Emelyn Cook       
  5. Matthew Kim        
  6. Christian Morgan    
  7. Benjamin Broadway  
  8. Isabel Rivera-Correa  
  9. Jaina Gandhi       
  10. Emily Eager
  11.  A-ٲԾ
  12. Max Boyington
  13. Skyler Barton
  14. Andreq Wong
1715Closing remarks and poster prizes

Application for the in-person summer school is still available. Please send any queries to kenneth.wright@colorado.edu

for the virtual (WEBINAR portions) summer school is open.