Developing biomarker arrays predicting sleep and circadian-coupled risks to health

Abstract

The impact of advances in sleep and circadian sciences over the last 20 years on medicine, health, and public safety has been limited in part by the lack of availability of objective tools capable of quantifying sleep and circadian function in point-of-care (p-o-c) settings. This whitepaper is a product of a workshop that was designed to bring together thoughtleaders in biomarker development, experts in sleep-circadian biology and sleep disorders to identify barriers and opportunities informing the future development of p-o-c diagnostic tools. The workshop entitled, "Developing Biomarker Arrays Predicting Sleep and Circadian-Coupled Risks to Health," was held in Bethesda April 27-28 2015, and was jointly sponsored by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, National Institute on Aging and the Sleep Research Society (hereafter referred to as the biomarker workshop, (http:// www.nhlbi.nih.gov/research/reports). The Sleep Research Society supported a number of early career investigators to attend the workshop. They contributed to the writing of this whitepaper. A biomarker is a "biological molecule found in blood, other body fluids, or tissues that is a sign of a normal or abnormal process, condition or disease."1,2 For the purpose of this whitepaper, "biomarkers" include quantifiable molecules and chemical properties of easily accessible biological samples (e.g., blood, urine, saliva). An ultimate goal is the development of robust and practical approaches for p-o-c or contact implementation in population-based research and most importantly, for clinical applications to enhance sleep and circadian health.