3.7 Sleeping cells - w/ Tomás, Eleanna & Sarah Steffens

The Science Basement Podcast

Sweet, sweet sleep... We all love a good nap. That moment when we switch off the lights, get cozy in our beds, close our eyes and fall in the blissful arms of Morph... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... ...zzzz... Sorry! I'm awake! Where were we? Sleep! Right! So, we all love it, but what is it exactly? What do our brain actually do when we sleep? Do they shut down or something? To try to answer these questions, Tomás and Eleanna interviewed Sarah Steffens, PhD student from the University of Helsinki, studying sleep and the involvement of a specific type of brain cells called M... you know what? Listen to the interview to find out! ;) Sarah has studied Biology in Bonn and Neurobiology in Freiburg, Germany. She is now at the Helsinki University working at her PhD project, which focuses on the relationship between sleep and immune cells (microglia) in the brain. How does insufficient sleep affect microglia? And do they play a role in sleep homeostasis? Your hosts this week are Tomás Garnier Artiñano & Eleanna Asvestari. Editing by Tomás Garnier Artiñano. Episode cover by Katja Kaurinkoski & Giuliano Didio. TSB Podcast logo by Tomás Garnier Artiñano. Jingle by Havelocke. thisishavelocke.bandcamp.com Follow The Science Basement: Homepage: www.thesciencebasement.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/ScienceBasement Instagram: @sciencebasement Twitter: @ScienceBasement Email: [e-mail]