Research
Genetic, molecular, and neural underpinnings of sleep and sleep deprivation
Appointments
- Associate Professor; Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology
Biography
Dr. Paul studies the genetic, molecular, and neural underpinnings of sleep. His primary interests are comprised of uncovering the mechanisms responsible for the negative effects of sleep deprivation in adults and children. He also probes the origins of gender/sex differences in the ability to recover from sleep loss to develop therapeutic targets for sleep disorders that disproportionately affect females.
His work has shown that sex differences in daily sleep amount are dependent on circulating reproductive hormones while sex differences in the ability to recover from sleep loss are relatively insensitive to them. Dr. Paul’s current research involves applying a forward genetics approach to uncover the core genes responsible for sleep-wake regulation and the impairing effects of sleep loss. Effective treatments for common sleep-wake disorders are elusive.
Dr. Paul conducts a forward genetics approach to facilitate gene identification that takes advantage of natural variation occurring in sleep-replete and sleep-deprived mice. This approach applies the most cutting edge genome mapping, positional cloning, and DNA sequencing techniques to identifying the genetic origins of unique sleep phenotypes in transgenic mouse models. These studies are expected to identify novel sleep regulatory genes and lead to the development of new therapeutic targets and improved treatments for sleep disorders.
Publications
- Chaithra, SR, Nair, SP, Chaithanya, SR, Nagashree, KS, Shreya,, Paul, K et al.. Targeting diabetic foot ulcer pathophysiology: altered signaling pathways and 3D scaffold as an emerging treatment strategy. 3 Biotech. 2025;15 (8):272. doi: 10.1007/s13205-025-04440-0. PubMed PMID:40726570 PubMed Central PMC12297080.
- Jehle, DV, Schultz, H, Khatri, R, Forks, PJ, Paul, KK, Reed, SA et al.. Creatine Kinase Elevations and Risk of Renal Failure and Dialysis in Patients With Rhabdomyolysis. Cureus. 2025;17 (6):e86536. doi: 10.7759/cureus.86536. PubMed PMID:40698228 PubMed Central PMC12282552.
- Duque, MP, Paul, KK, Sultana, R, Ribeiro Dos Santos, G, O'Driscoll, M, Naser, AM et al.. National burden and optimal vaccine policy for Japanese encephalitis virus in Bangladesh. medRxiv. 2025; :. doi: 10.1101/2025.07.07.25330995. PubMed PMID:40672517 PubMed Central PMC12265778.
- Zhao, Y, Andoh, T, Charles, F, Reddy, P, Paul, K, Goar, H et al.. A Four Amino Acid Intracellular Motif of VISTA Blocks Growth Receptor Signaling in Cancer Cells to Induce Tumor Suppression. Cancer Res. 2025; :. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-24-4774. PubMed PMID:40658599 .
- Gong, Y, Yu, Y, Zhang, K, Cambronero Del Rosario, IP, Cockburn, M, Thompson, LK et al.. Agricultural copper pesticide exposure and DNA methylation in Central Valley of California residents with and without Parkinson's disease. Environ Res. 2025;285 (Pt 1):122335. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2025.122335. PubMed PMID:40653069 .