The Swiss Young Sleep Wake Chronobiology Network (SYSWCN) was founded in 2016, as part of the Swiss Society for Sleep Research, Sleep Medicine, and Chronobiology (SSSSC). The SYSWCN is very interdisciplinary organised and aims to connect young researchers and clinicians within Switzerland independent of their subfield, background, or clinical speciality
Since 2017, the SYSWCN has organised an annual 1-2 day spring workshop which is supported by the SSSSC. Participants have the opportunity to submit an abstract and present their own scientific work, or an interesting clinical case. Abstracts are available to participants in an abstract booklet, prior to the workshop. In addition to participants’ presentations, a few courses led by seniors, academic speed dating as an ice breaker, PowerPoint karaoke with slides derived from presentations, and multiple choice questions referring to the scientific presentations have all been part of the workshop.
The 2019 workshop took place with a very rich programme on March 9th on the Gurten, the so-called “mountain” next to the city of Bern, Switzerland. Participants presented their work, covering the effect of social media or hypnotic suggestions on sleep, the importance of sleep for memory consolidation, the relevance of different measures of sleep for cardiovascular events, the relationship between gut bacteria and sleep and its impact on infant development, neuronal responses in the EEG in relation to the circadian rhythm, and the description and characteristics of microsleep episodes in the wake-sleep transition zone. In addition, Dr Frédéric Zubler from the Sleep-Wake-Epilepsy-Centre, Dept. of Neurology, Inselspital Bern, excellently walked participants through several clinical cases of patients with sleep-wake disorders. Last but not least, Prof. Urs Albrecht from the University of Fribourg shared his personal career path and highlighted several important aspects of his scientific career. He succinctly combined this journey with the science behind circadian and diurnal rhythms.
If you are interested in getting involved or have any questions about the network, you can visit the SYSWCN website http://swiss-sleep.ch/syswcn/ or contact david.schreier [at] insel.ch.
by David Schreier, RRFS national representative from Switzerland
