Description
PhD starting in October 2025
Sleep and biomarkers of inflammation (SLEEPIMMUN)
Project description
Sleep and immunity are linked, and circadian hormones (melatonin, cortisol), sleep debt (α-amylase), the systemic inflammation marker CRP and cytokines (including TNF-α and IL-6) may play a role. Most of what we know about the links between sleep and the immune system in humans comes from studies carried out in healthy adults. The SLEEPIMMUN project aims to study whether and how sleep/circadian rhythms influence immune function at two periods of life: from childhood to adolescence within the ELFE cohort, and in adulthood through a prospective clinical study. We hypothesize that sleep and circadian rhythm disorders have a negative impact on immune function. We will study this function via serum and salivary markers (cytokines, CRP) in preadolescents and night workers with and without sleep complaints (NW), and also, in the latter, via blood immune cell reactivity after ex vivo immune-stimulations. Sleep and circadian rhythm will be assessed by questionnaires (quantity, quality, schedule), but also objectively by salivary hormone measurements and, in NWs, by accelerometers, luxmeters and polysomnographic recordings.
In a first part, within the ELFE birth cohort (18,300 infants included in 2011 and followed up until 10.5 years of age) we will (1) identify multi-trajectory groups of sleep characteristics between 1 and 10.5 years of age and (2) study the longitudinal relationships between these groups and clusters of serum and salivary markers (carried out by our partners) measured at 10.5 years of age. To do this, we will use data collected by face-to-face (maternity) or telephone interviews (ages 2 months, 1, 2, 3.5, 5.5 and 10 years)1 including sleep characteristics (difficulty falling asleep, night-time awakenings, weekday and weekend sleep schedules and durations, middle of the night, sleep deprivation) and potential confounding factors (e.g., socio-demographic information, breastfeeding, history of allergies and infections, ...).
In a second phase, within the prospective clinical study in NWs (N=120 with subjective and objective sleep measurements), we will (1) describe the participants' sleep and circadian rhythm disorders, (2) identify groups with similar measures including objective sleep measurements, circadian rhythm and light exposure (3) study the relationships between subjective sleep measures and clusters of serum and salivary markers (produced by our partners) on the one hand, and the groups identified in (2) and the same clusters of biological markers on the other.
Skills required:
Master in epidemiology or biostatistics: Theoretical and practical knowledge of linear and non-linear models; knowledge of machine learning methods would be a plus but is not a requirement.
For more information and application, please contact me (sabine.plancoulaine@inserm.fr) and send a detailed CV