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Alex Keene joined the Department of Biology at Texas A&M University in 2021. His research interests focus on the neural regulation of sleep, appetite, and energy homeostasis, all critical for animal survival under stringent evolutionary pressures. Much of his work involves studying fruit flies, which, like mammals, suppress sleep when starved, allowing for insight into the interactions between sleep and metabolism. Keene has performed extensive genetic screens to identify novel regulators of sleep-metabolism interactions and is currently investigating the genes and neural circuits that integrate these processes. Additionally, he is establishing a Mexican cavefish model to study the evolution of sleep in nutrient-poor environments. His team has generated comparative brain atlases using whole-brain functional imaging approaches, identifying reorganization within the hypothalamus associated with increased slow-wave sleep intensity in these cavefish. Through this research, Keene aims to identify conserved genetic, physiological, and anatomical mechanisms associated with variable sleep.
Department: Department of Communication and Journalism. Ph.D. program only currently admitting. GRE is test-optional.