1. Anesthesia, Consciousness, and Sleep: Exploring Brain States

General anesthesia and natural sleep share fundamental electrophysiological similarities, including cortical slow waves — low-frequency, synchronized oscillations critical for maintaining excitatory and inhibitory (E/I) balance and cortical stability. Both states are characterized by significant shifts in neuronal activity, including slow waves—patterns of synchronized activity across neurons that dominate during deep sleep and some stages of anesthesia. Slow waves play an important role in shaping neuronal activity, maintaining a balance between excitatory and inhibitory signals (E/I balance) critical for healthy brain function.

In this research direction, we address questions such as:
I. How do the firing patterns of cortical neurons during anesthetic-induced slow waves compare to those during natural sleep?
II. What role do these waves play in restoring brain network stability and functionality?
III. Can anesthetic protocols be optimized to ameliorate sleep dysregulation or facilitate recovery from sleep disturbances associated with neurological and psychiatric conditions?

We systematically characterize the electrophysiological signatures of these brain states, leveraging advanced optical imaging and electrophysiological recording techniques to uncover how brain activity evolves. This research advances our mechanistic understanding of anesthesia and sleep, with potential implications for developing therapies targeting neuropsychiatric conditions linked to sleep and consciousness.