Sleep refreshes the brain and the body by inducing protective changes in gene expression. Sleep disturbance triggers a stress response that also turns on protective genes. It was unclear how sleep or sleep deprivation can lead to these changes in gene expression. Scientists led by Prof. Henrik Bringmann from the Biotechnology Center (BIOTEC) of TU Dresden used the C. elegans worm to show that the protective gene expression during sleep is controlled by the activity of sleep neuron and that during sleep deprivation, overactivation of sleep neuron boosts this safeguarding process. Their results present a potential paradigm shift in understanding the consequences of sleep loss on gene expression. The study was published in the journal Current Biology on May 2.