Welcome to the Shaw Lab
Despite the fact that sleep is conserved throughout the animal kingdom, the function of sleep remains one of the last major unsolved biological mysteries facing neuroscience today.
The Shaw laboratory uses the genetic model organism Drosophila melanogaster to elucidate the molecular mechanisms linking sleep to neuronal plasticity. The lab has demonstrated that we can fully restore cognitive functioning to a diverse set of classic memory mutants simply by enhancing their sleep.
Who we are
Current lab members
The Shaw Lab is run by Dr. Paul Shaw, PhD, Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Washington University School of Medicine.
Join us!
We have several positions available in the lab, and we are always open to hearing from students and scientists interested in sleep research.
Latest news
Our recent paper in Sleep finds enhanced sleep improves learning and memory in flies with learning deficits. (Links to an external site)
Paul received a $2.3 million grant from the National Institute on Aging for research titled “Bidirectional interactions between sleep and Alzheimer’s disease.” (Links to an external site)
Our Science Advances study shows flies sleep when the need arises to adapt to new situations. (Links to an external site)
