Professor Laura Roden

Supervisor Details

Contact Details

Centre for Health and Life Sciences, Coventry University

Scientific Background

Research Interests

I trained as a biochemist and am interested in chronobiology. The time of day plays a huge role in an organism's physiology and interactions with its environment. I am interested in the molecular basis of circadian rhythms and how organisms tell the time.

Supervision Style

In three words or phrases: collaborative, supportive, inclusive.

Provision of Training

I like to provide personal guidance for a project at first, and then allow the student to work more independently, but with a very open door policy for questions, problem-solving.

Progression Monitoring and Management

I acknowledge that some students like to have targets set for them, while others like to take ownership of their own progress, and will accommodate this. Either way, I like to be kept up to date, and will expect to see evidence of method development/data generation results on a weekly basis.

Communication

Bidirectional communication is one of the most important aspects of research. I am happy to discuss any issues that are impacting your ability to fulfil your potential or my/our expectations.

Meetings

PhD Students can expect scheduled meetings with me at least once per week. These meetings will be face-to-face. I am usually contactable for an instant response on every working day.

Work Patterns

Certain tasks in my lab need to occur at set times, and students need to be able to commit to a rota/timetable shared with other members of the team. Out of hours, night, and weekend work is required.

Notice Period for Feedback

I need at least 2 weeks' notice to provide feedback on written work of up to 5,000 words.

MIBTP Project Details

Primary supervisor for:

Adolescent sleep quality and impact of school start times

See the PhD Opportunities section to see if this project is currently open for applications via MIBTP.

Please Note: The main page lists projects via BBSRC Research Theme(s) quoted and then relevant Topic(s).

Adolescent sleep quality and impact of school start times

Secondary Supervisor(s): Dr Isadora C Furigo, Associate Professor Gosia Lipinska, Professor Marija Heffer, Dr Vedrana Ivić

University of Registration: Coventry University

BBSRC Research Themes:

Understanding the Rules of Life (Neuroscience and Behaviour)

Project Outline

Sleep behaviours and sleep physiology change during adolescence with delays in the circadian system and changes in the sleep homeostatic system pushing sleep later in the night. This can lead to sleep deprivation, especially during the school term if school start times are early. As sleep is fundamental for cognitive function, physical and mental health, some schools have trialled later school start times to improve attendance and performance, but this has not been implemented widely. This project aims to explore the relationship between school start times, sleep quality, and mental health. It also aims to investigate the degree of social jetlag between students according to school start time, and the role of weekend recovery sleep on memory consolidation and sleep quality. Although weekend recovery sleep is commonly used to make up for sleep loss during the week, it has been demonstrated that it does not prevent the physical health effects of recurrent sleep curtailment. This project will use polysomnography (PSG) to analyse the electrical activity of the cerebral cortex during sleep, to provide insights into adolescent brain maturation and daytime function measures.

Objectives:

The study will measure habitual sleep and wake behaviours, analyse sleep electroencephalography (EEG), and computational analyses of EEG spectra to assess the impact of the school schedule on sleep quality and daytime functioning. Light exposure and chronotype will be measured as possible mediators.

The hypotheses are as follows:

a. Later school start times are positively associated with sleep quality, mental health and daytime functioning, and negatively associated with social jetlag and weekend recovery sleep

b. Chronotype is positively associated with daytime functioning when it matches school start time, and this relationship is mediated by light exposure

c. Napping during the days of morning start increase night sleep onset latency and is negatively associated with sleep quality