Simon Archer

Dr Archer is a member of the Sleep, Chronobiology & Addiction research group

Main research interests include individual differences in sleep and circadian rhythms and the genetics underlying these phenotypic differences. This pioneering research has been at the forefront of the field of the genetics of sleep and circadian rhythms (Archer, Sleep, 2003) and has identified significant associations between genetic variation and the timing of sleep and wake activity (including delayed sleep phase disorder), sleep homeostasis, vulnerability to sleep loss, cognitive performance and brain function (assessed by fMRI), cardiac function, and the phase angle of gene expression in peripheral leukocytes. During this research, techniques have been developed to study whole-genome expression in peripheral blood across a time series and this has led to significant findings in the effects of sleep-wake, sleep deprivation, and mistimed sleep on the regulation of gene expression (Archer et al., Sleep, 2008; Möller-Levet, Archer et al, PNAS, 2013; Archer et al, PNAS, 2014). Transgenic humanised animal models have also been developed to further investigate these mechanisms (Hasan et al., FASEB, 2014).