Jae-eun
Miller

Dr. Jae-eun Kang Miller is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University. Her research program investigates how neural circuits break down in Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias using advanced in vivo two-photon calcium imaging and simultaneous neuronal manipulation, specifically during the behaviors that are affected by disease in human patients. In her earlier work, she discovered that amyloid-beta, a cleavage product of amyloid precursor protein, has a strong circadian rhythm in the healthy brain (Kang et al, 2009, Science). Extracellular amyloid-beta levels increase in the brain during wakefulness and decrease during sleep in young humans and mice, and chronic sleep restriction accelerates amyloid plaque deposition in mouse models. Many researchers have built on this initial discovery, and it is now established that there is a bi-directional relationship between amyloid beta and sleep, and a sleep disturbance may contribute to Alzheimer’s disease. Her current research at Columbia University provides insight into the circuit-level mechanisms underlying how learning, memory, and circadian sleep regulation deteriorate in neurodegenerative diseases and aging.