Sleep Disruption

A Pacific Parkinson’s Research Centre team led by Dr. Martin McKeown and Dr. Jason Valerio have advanced portable sleep assessment tools and analysis—necessary groundwork for the evaluation of various therapeutic interventions to improve sleep in people with Parkinson’s disease. 

Over the past three years, the PPRC team has made significant progress toward the goal of developing innovative, portable ways to monitor people’s sleep at home, rather than in the  artificial environment of a sleep laboratory. 

Cross Faculty Collaborations 

In the spirit of collaboration between faculties, the PPRC team continued to work with Dr. Haakon Nygaard, Fipke Professor in Alzheimer’s Research, to test the effectiveness of various portable sleep assessment tools. In addition, Dr. Borris Stoeber, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Canada Research Chair in Microfluidics and Sensing Technology, is collaborating with PPRC to develop electrodes for sleep and EEG recording. Dr. Maryam Mirian, Machine Learning Research Scientist with PPRC and the UBC Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has also developed a new way to analyze sleep.  

Future Implementations 

Once the portable sleep assessment tools are fully validated, the PPRC team will proceed with evaluating the effect of various therapeutic interventions on sleep in people with Parkinson’s disease. 

The PPRC team was able to secure a $49,000 grant from UCB Canada, Inc. to conduct a one-year study using smart textiles to measure sleep. To support the continuation of this project, donate now.

To learn more about the Sleep Disruption project, you can read a 2020 Scientific Committee update presentation here.