Image Bank: Spokesperson Portraits and Bios

Thomas Kilduff, Ph.D.

Director, Center for Neuroscience and Metabolic Diseases, Biosciences Division

Expertise: Neuroscience, Neurobiology, Sleep Disorders, Sleep Research, Narcolepsy, Insomnia, Biological Clock, Biological Rhythms, Circadian Rhythms

Thomas Kilduff, Ph.D., leads the Center for Neuroscience and Metabolic Diseases within SRI's Biosciences Division. He is an expert in the neurobiology of sleep and wakefulness, sleep disorders and the biological clock. Dr. Kilduff was first author on the paper that originally described hypocretin/orexin (H/O), a neuropeptide system that stimulates arousal and is involved in wakefulness regulation. Dysfunction of the H/O system results in narcolepsy, a sleep disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and a sudden loss of muscle tone known as cataplexy.

In addition to basic research on sleep, his group studies in vitro and in vivo pharmacology related to the design and development of new medications for the treatment of sleep disorders. His research has been supported by government agencies, private foundations, and pharmaceutical companies. He has authored or co-authored more than 200 published abstracts, scientific articles, and book chapters.

Kilduff was previously a senior research scientist at the Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology at Stanford University. He has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Sleep Research Society (SRS) and served as secretary/treasurer for both the SRS and SRS Foundation. He received his Ph.D. in biological sciences from Stanford University. In 2010, Dr. Kilduff was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

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