Jonathan Wisor, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
E-Mail: J_Wisor@wsu.edu
Office: 320K Health Science Bldg,
WWAMI Medical Education Program, WSU Spokane
Phone: (509) 358-7577
Humans spend roughly one-third of their lives
asleep. Sleep insufficiency has a number of negative effects on health
and well-being. The function that is served by sleep and the mechanisms
by which sleep insufficiency causes health problems are not well
understood. The purpose of my research program is to identify functional
consequences of sleep and sleep loss within the nervous system. My
laboratory is currently funded by both the Department of Defense
(Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Young Faculty Award) and the
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke to apply
molecular genetic and biochemical techniques in studies of the
regulation of sleep. These projects are aimed at characterizing the
roles of genetic loci and discrete cell populations within the cerebral
cortex in regulating sleep and sleep-related electroencephalographic
wave forms. We use gene expression and protein profiling in microglial
and neuronal cell populations to identify putative regulators of sleep.
We use germ line targeted optogenetic constructs to modulate the
activity of discrete cell types and measure the effects of these
manipulations on sleep. Working with research partners, we perform
studies on human subject populations to apply the findings of basic
neurobiological studies to issues related to human health.
The Wisor lab personnel: (L-R) Chelsea Stone
(undergraduate research assistant); Jonathan Wisor (principal
investigator); William Clegern (research technologist); Michelle Schmidt
(research technologist)
Biographical Information
Dr. Wisor received a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from
Pennsylvania State University. He received a PhD in Neuroscience from
the University of California, Los Angeles. He then served as a
postdoctoral fellow and subsequently as a research associate at Stanford
University School of Medicine. From 2004 through 2008 he was a staff
scientist at SRI International, a non-profit research institute in Menlo
Park, California. He has served on the faculty of Washington State
University and the WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho)
Medical Education Program since December of 2008.
Selected Publications (click active titles for links)
Wisor JP, Clegern WC and Schmidt MA (2011) Cerebral
microglia mediate sleep/wake and neuroinflammatory effects of
methamphetamine. Brain Behavior and Immunity, in press.
Wisor JP and Clegern WC (2011)
Quantification of short-term slow wave sleep homeostasis and its
disruption by minocycline in the laboratory mouse. Neurosci Lett.,
490(3):165-9.
Krueger JM,
Wisor JP (2011), Local use-dependent sleep,
an introduction Curr Topics Med Chem in press.
Wisor JP et al., (2011) Sleep-active neuronal nitric
oxide synthase-positive cells of the cerebral cortex: a local regulator
of sleep?, Curr Topics Med Chem in press.
Wisor JP et al., (2011)
Evidence for neuroinflammatory and microglial changes in the cerebral
response to sleep loss, Sleep in press.
Jiang P, Striz M,
Wisor JP and O'Hara BF (2011)
Behavioral and genetic dissection of a mouse model for advanced sleep
phase syndrome, Sleep 34:39-48.
Gerashchenko D,
Wisor JP, Kilduff TS (2010)
Sleep-active cells in the cerebral cortex and their role in slow-wave
activity, Sleep Biol Rhythms.
Thompson CL,
Wisor JP, et al., (2010) Molecular
anatomic signatures of sleep deprivation in the mouse brain, Front
Neurosci. 4:165.
Wisor JP, Jiang P, Striz M, O'Hara BF (2009) Effects of
ramelteon and triazolam in a mouse genetic model of early morning
awakenings, Brain Res, 1296:46-55, PMID 19664610.
Morairty SR,
Wisor JP, Sinko W, Silveira K, Kilduff TS
(2009) The wake-promoting effects of hypocretin-1 is attenuated in old
rats Neurobiology of Aging, in press, PMID 19781813.
Hara J, Gerashchenko D,
Wisor JP, Sakurai T, Xie X,
Kilduff TS (2009) Thyrotropin-releasing hormone increases behavioral
arousal through modulation of hypocretin/orexin neurons. Journal of
Neuroscience, 29:3705-14.
Wisor JP et al., (2008) Sleep deprivation effects on
circadian clock gene expression in the cerebral cortex parallel
electroencephalographic differences among mouse strains. Journal of
Neuroscience 28:7193-7201.
Gerashchenko D,
Wisor JP et al., (2008) Identification
of a population of sleep-active cerebral cortex neurons. Proc Natl Acad
Sci, 105:10227-10232.
Xie X,
Wisor JP et al. (2008). Opposing modulation of
stress-induced analgesia by hypocretin/orexin and nociceptin/orphanin
FQ. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 118(7):2471-81.
Terao A, Huang ZL,
Wisor JP et al., (2008) Gene
expression in the rat brain during prostaglandin D(2) and
adenosinergically-induced sleep. J Neurochem 105:1480-1498.
