Sleep Disorders and Medicine

Biography

Dr Krystal is Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Duke University Medical Center in Durham N.C.He is also Director of the Brain Stimulation Program,Director of the Sleep Research Laboratory,the Insomnia Clinic and the Quantitative EEG Laboratory at D.U.M.C. He is an internationally-recognized expert in the areas of mood and sleep disorders. He has more than 25 years of clinical and research experience in these areas. The main foci of his work have been the development of means to improve the risk-benefit ratio of brain stimulation therapies for mood disorders and studies on the pathophysiology of treatment of sleep disorders. Dr Krystal obtained his B.S. and M.S.E. from M.I.T. followed by an M.D. from Duke University in Durham N.C.He completed his psychiatric residency at the Duke University Medical Center followed by a fellowship in sleep disorders and clinical neurophysiology. He is the recipient of several awards including the APA residents scholarship, Laughlin fellow from the American College of Psychiatrists, NARSAD Young Investigator Award, NIMH Scientist Development Award for clinicians and the APA Research Mentorship award.He currently serves as the Deputy Editor of the journal SLEEP,Chairman of the Research Committee of the Sleep Research Society,and on the Board of Directors of the International Society of ECT and Neurostimulation.

Research Interest

My research is focused on better understanding the pathophysiology of sleep disorders and mood disorders and developing improved treatments for these conditions. My primary research tools are: electroencepahlography (EEG), polysomnography (PSG), computer signal analysis and modeling, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and positron emission tomograophy (PET). Nearly all of my projects have been carried out with humans, however, projects are ongoing with gene knock-out models in mice, and lemurs in collaboration with the Duke Primate Center. A few representative current studies are: 1) Defining physiologic (EEG, PSG, PET, fMRI) correlates of sleep complaints and subtyping insomnia on the basis of the associated pathophysiology, 2) Studying the relationship of EEG data recorded during non-REM sleep, daytime function, and insomnia treatment response, 3) Developing new pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatments for insomnia, 4) Studying the relationship of natural sleep and hibernation-like phenomena (torpor), 5) Predicting depression treatment response on the basis of pre-treatment EEG and structural MRI data.