Linus Milinski

We spend about a third of our life asleep, yet scientists are still trying to unravel the mystery behind this vital activity. While it is widely agreed that the brain is central to sleep regulation, we are still uncertain about where and how our need for sleep is regulated.

My research focuses on understanding how the circuitry in a central part of the brain, specifically in the cerebral cortex, influences sleep-related brain activity and the build-up of sleep pressure. To investigate this, I combine genetical manipulation of brain activity with electrophysiological recordings, behavioural paradigms and computational analysis.

Beyond this, I am interested in broader aspects of sleep regulation. I am investigating how internally generated phantom percepts, such as tinnitus, interact with sleep processes and I have previously studied how waking experience modulates sleep pressure.

Biography

I am a Postdoctoral Research Scientist working with Vladyslav Vyazovskiy and Zoltán Molnár. I completed a DPhil in tinnitus and sleep research supervised by Victoria Bajo-Lorenzana, Vladyslav Vyazovskiy and Fernando Nodal at the University of Oxford. Previously, I conducted an MSc project on sleep-dependent sound processing in the group of Livia de Hoz at the Max-Planck-Institute for Experimental Medicine, after having obtained a BSc in Biology at the Georg-August University in Göttingen, Germany.

I am also a science writer with articles contributed to The Conversation, The Oxford Scientist, The Oxford Student, Phenotype Magazine and Oxford Scholastica Academy. I was Editor for the Oxford Scientist and produced the Frontiers of Science print issue. I am currently an editor and the Events Lead for research.careers.org. Moreover, I taught neuroscience classes for Balliol College Oxford, the Oxford MSc Course in Sleep Medicine and Oxford Scholastica Academy.