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SPRC Seminar Presentation: Dr. Horacio de la Iglesia – “Lunar Modulation of Sleep”
April 15 @ 10:15 am - 11:15 am
The Sleep and Performance Research Center welcomes Dr. Horacio de la Iglesia, PhD, University of Washington, to WSU Spokane on Wednesday, April 15th, 2026. He will present his seminar at 10:15am entitled, “Lunar Modulation of Sleep”, in SAC 147 and via Zoom.
Throughout evolution and history, humans have progressively isolated themselves from natural cycles through built environments that isolate them from the external environment. Key to this isolation is our ability to manipulate artificial light and extend our activity into the nighttime. However, recent studies from our laboratory show that both the sun and the moon continue to shape our daily sleep even in highly urbanized communities. I will present data from human and non-human primates that provide evidence for the synchronization of sleep with both the solar day and the lunar month; surprisingly, synchronization with the lunar cycle is not explained by moonlight but instead by its gravitational pull.
Dr. Horacio de la Iglesia finished his undergraduate studies in Biology at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. He earned his PhD in Neuroscience and Behavior at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he studied the neuroanatomical interactions between the master circadian clock of mammals and the brain centers that control reproduction. Dr. de la Iglesia continued his research on the neural control of circadian rhythms as a Post-doctoral Fellow and as an Instructor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, while he was also an Instructor at Harvard University. He joined the University of Washington Department of Biology in 2003. In 2025, he became a member of the WA State Academy of Science.
- Meeting ID: 960 0142 1805
- Passcode: 855095
