CurePSP Joins the Alzheimer’s Association and The Michael J. Fox Foundation to Fund Four Sleep Research Projects

CurePSP has announced four new research awards totaling just under $2 million through an innovative collaborative effort with the Alzheimer's Association and The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF). With each award providing up to $500,000, the Sleep Contributions to Neurodegeneration (SCN) Grant Program brings together three leading organizations to tackle a crucial but understudied question: how does sleep impact the development and progression of brain diseases like progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), Alzheimer's disease, Lewy body diseases and Parkinson's disease?

Researchers and families have long observed that sleep problems are common across different neurodegenerative diseases, playing a dual role in these conditions. Disrupted sleep can be both a contributor to neurodegeneration and a symptom of diseases like PSP. People living with PSP, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's often experience disrupted sleep patterns, and many have a history of sleep issues even before their diagnosis. Sleep plays a vital role in how our brains function, helping to consolidate memories, clear out cellular waste and maintain healthy neural connections. By understanding how sleep disturbances contribute to neurodegeneration, and how disease progression affects sleep, researchers may uncover new pathways to slow disease progression and improve quality of life for those affected and families.

The SCN Grant Program is specifically designed to encourage collaborative research that looks at the bigger picture. These projects bring together multidisciplinary teams to examine how sleep interacts with other biological processes and disease mechanisms. This systems-level approach — considering factors like circadian rhythms, co-existing conditions and measurable sleep markers — has the potential to reveal insights that benefit multiple disease communities at once. The four newly funded projects embody this innovative spirit, each bringing fresh perspectives to understanding sleep's complex relationship with neurodegeneration. Jennifer Brummet, PhD, Director of Scientific Affairs and Partnerships at CurePSP, sees particular promise in the program's focus on both understanding sleep mechanisms and testing whether treating sleep problems could improve outcomes for people with PSP.

“The three partner organizations supported this program with the goal of increasing understanding of sleep disruption across neurodegeneration,” Dr. Brummet said. “For CurePSP, disruption to the sleep-wake cycle is a common symptom of PSP that is underrecognized and often undertreated. We hope this investment will lead to better understanding of sleep in PSP and neurodegeneration overall, with the ultimate goal of better clinical care and symptom management.”

Explore the four studies tackling these questions:

Locus coeruleus - Sleep Gatekeeper Malfunction in AD and PD

How does the malfunction of a small brainstem region that controls sleep contribute to early brain damage in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease?

Sleep problems often emerge years before memory loss or movement symptoms in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, and the locus coeruleus — a small brainstem region that regulates sleep and alertness through norepinephrine signaling — is among the first areas damaged in both conditions. Researchers Anita Luthi, Ph.D., from the University of Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland, and Matthias Prigge, Ph.D., from Humboldt University will use mouse models of early-stage disease to investigate whether disrupted activity in the locus coeruleus merely signals impending neurodegeneration or actively accelerates brain damage by monitoring sleep patterns, brain activity and chemical signaling while experimentally manipulating locus coeruleus activity and REM sleep. This study could reveal protective roles of specific sleep stages and identify whether targeting sleep regulation, particularly REM sleep that normally silences this brain region, could slow or prevent neurodegeneration before severe symptoms develop.

Learn more about this study here

ENTr SANDMAN

How do sleep problems affect brain health and disease progression in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, and can treating sleep improve long-term outcomes?

Sleep problems often emerge years before diagnosis in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease and may create a harmful cycle where poor sleep worsens brain degeneration while brain disease further disrupts sleep, yet sleep disturbances are rarely integrated into neurological care. Researcher Elissaios Karageorgiou, M.D., Ph.D., from the Neurological Institute of Athens in Athens, Greece, will study adults with and without these diseases using comprehensive assessments including cognitive tests, home and laboratory sleep monitoring, brain scans and biological samples, while some participants receive sleep treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy or breathing support to examine how improving sleep affects cognition, disease progression and caregiver burden over time. This research could enable earlier identification of sleep-related risk factors and establish sleep regulation as a strategy to slow neurodegeneration and improve quality of life for patients and caregivers.

Learn more about this study here

AI-Driven Sleep Study on Links Between Sleep and Neurodegeneration

Can sleep patterns measured at home provide early clues about the development and progression of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease?

Sleep problems often appear years before major symptoms in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, but traditional lab-based sleep studies are too brief to capture meaningful long-term patterns. Researcher Gari Clifford from Emory University will train an AI system to distinguish healthy aging from neurodegenerative disease using sleep recordings, then adapt it for wearable devices including an in-ear sensor and smart ring that participants will use at home for two weeks, combining sleep data with memory tests and blood markers to determine whether early sleep patterns can predict disease progression. This research could enable simple home monitoring of brain health through sleep patterns, allowing earlier detection of neurodegenerative diseases and development of treatments that protect the brain by improving sleep.

Learn more about this study here

OSA severity, LC-NE function, DNA methylation and Neurodegeneration Risk

How does sleep apnea affect brain systems involved in alertness and stress, and how might this contribute to brain aging and Alzheimer’s disease?

Obstructive sleep apnea, a common but often undiagnosed disorder in older adults where breathing repeatedly stops during sleep, may accelerate brain changes linked to Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and PSP by straining the locus coeruleus–norepinephrine system in the brainstem — a region controlling alertness and stress that is among the first damaged in Alzheimer's disease. Researcher Omonigho Bubu, M.D., Ph.D., from NYU Grossman School of Medicine in New York will study older adults with and without moderate-to-severe sleep apnea using sleep studies, memory testing, brain scans measuring tau protein and brain structure, as well as blood tests estimating biological aging to clarify how sleep apnea leads to accelerated brain aging. This study could explain why sleep apnea increases dementia risk and guide approaches focusing on improving sleep and reducing stress to protect brain health in aging.

Learn more about this study here