Introduction

Humans spend about a third of their life sleeping. Yet, our understanding of the cognitive, emotional and neurodevelopmental functions of this essential behavior and how these may be disrupted in clinical populations is still very limited. Sleep disturbances are observed in most major psychiatric disorders but little is known about their exact nature. Our focus is on defining the physiological features of sleep disturbances in psychiatric disorders, investigating their relations with symptoms and cognitive deficits, and examining the neural circuitry involved in these sleep deficits. The ultimate goal of our research is to identify sleep-related biomarkers that play a causal role in psychiatric disorders.

Our lab exploits multimodal neuroimaging and electrophysiology techniques to investigate these questions. We study adults as well as adolescents and children diagnosed with or at heightened risk for various psychopathologies including psychotic disorders, anxiety and depression. 

Current Positions

• Assistant Professor, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
• Director, Neuroscience Research, Psychosis-risk Intervention, Education, and Research (PIER) Program

Education

• BA with high honors in Psychology, Bogazici University - Istanbul, Turkey
• MA in Psychology, Bogazici University - Istanbul, Turkey
• PhD in Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Massachusetts - Amherst
• Post-doctoral Research Training Certificate Program, Harvard Medical School

Graduate Program Affiliations

• Neuroscience

Center, Program and Institute Affiliations

• Iowa Neuroscience Institute

Research Interests

Sleep-related developmental biomarkers of psychopathology; Psychotic disorders and individuals at familial/clinical high risk; Sleep electrophysiology; Resting-state functional connectivity MRI; Event-Related Potentials; Sleep-dependent memory consolidation and emotional processing

Training Areas

Behavioral & Cognitive Neuroscience
Clinical Science

Research Group
Developmental Psychopathology
Developmental Science