Jeffrey Donlea

Jeffrey Donlea is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles. He is affiliated with the Molecular, Cellular & Integrative Physiology Graduate Program and actively studies sleep homeostasis and its neural mechanisms using Drosophila models. His work leverages genetic tools to explore how sleep impacts memory consolidation, synaptic plasticity, and behavioral resilience.

Dr. Donlea received his Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis under Paul Shaw and completed postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford with Gero Miesenböck. His research identified a sleep homeostat in the fly brain, akin to a thermostat, that drives sleep after prolonged wakefulness.

Research Trends: Recent publications focus on brain-wide synaptic changes after sleep deprivation, memory restoration through sleep, and molecular mechanisms of sleep need. His work spans neural circuits, behavioral plasticity, and evolutionary conservation of sleep functions.

Advising & Collaborations: The Donlea Lab recruits postdocs and students to investigate sleep regulation. No formal students are listed in the provided text.

Labs & Teams: The lab operates at UCLA, with prior affiliations at the University of Oxford's Centre for Neural Circuits & Behavior.