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Neuroscience Research Team Expands with Leading Expert

Dr. Subimal Datta, UTGSMSubimal Datta, PhD, who is recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on the neurobiology of sleep and cognitive neuroscience, has joined the new Anesthesiology neuroscience research team as Professor of Anesthesiology. In collaboration with Ralph Lydic, PhD, and Helen Baghdoyan, PhD, Professors and Co-Directors of Anesthesiology Research, research led by Dr. Datta aims to understand disorders such as insomnia, addiction, depression, and different types of anxiety disorders (including PTSD). Understanding the cellular, neurochemical, and molecular mechanisms underlying regulation of REM sleep and processing of different types of memory, including emotional memory, during different stages of sleep and wakefulness have been the main focuses of Dr. Datta’s research to date.

Dr. Datta will continue his innovative research through a grant from the National Institutes of Health totalling $1,385,000. His work has been continuously funded by NIH research grants since 1995. His studies have also been supported by research funding from the pharmaceutical industry.

UT Graduate School of Medicine Dean James Neutens said, "As an acclaimed researcher in his own right, Dr. Datta is definitely an asset to the exisitng Anesthesiology research team of Dr. Lydic and Dr. Baghdoyan, and we anticipate this team will conduct groundbreaking research toward a deeper understanding of how the brain works."

Dr. Datta holds joint appointments with the University of Tennessee in the Department of Anesthesiology at the UT Graduate School of Medicine and the Department of Psychology at UT Knoxville, further strengthening an existing environment of close collaboration among two campuses.

Most recently, Dr. Datta was Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology, the Director of Sleep and Cognitive Neuroscience Research laboratories, and an Associate Director of Clinical Sleep Medicine Fellowship Training program in Boston University School of Medicine.

At Boston University School of Medicine, Dr. Datta and his team of researchers identified an intracellular signaling enzyme that regulates the wake-sleep cycle, which could help lead to the development of more effective sleep aid medications. The results of the study point to a specific enzyme inside neurons in the brain that trigger an important shift in consciousness from sleep to wakefulness and wakefulness to sleep.

Dr. Datta has authored and co-authored numerous chapters and scientific publications. He is the Associate Editor of Sleep and of Frontiers in Neuroscience and serves on the editorial board of several additional professional journals. He serves regularly in the review committees of several national and international scientific funding agencies.

Dr. Datta earned his doctorate degree in human physiology and neuroscience from All India Institute of Medical Sciences and completed Postdoctoral training in Neurophysiology at Laval University School of Medicine and at Harvard Medical School.

Posted March 26, 2015

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