Roberto Refinetti, a psychology professor at USC Salkehatchie, recently received a second major grant for the continuation of his research into the study of light and dark on the work and sleep patterns in rodents.
Previously the recipient of a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Refinetti also has won a $183K grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), making him the only researcher among the regional campuses to have been awarded grants by both prestigious foundations, a distinction that only USC Columbia and USC Aiken have equaled.
Refinetti’s work brings the opportunity for biomedical and behavioral research to an institution that has not been a major recipient of NIH and NSF support in the past. He actively engages in searching out such funds to support research activities that strengthen the institution’s research environment and provide the undergraduate student body with the benefit of exposure to and participation in research.
“Dr. Refinetti is a true asset to Salkehatchie in that he is both a teacher and a scholar,” said Ann Carmichael, dean of USC Salkehatchie. “He provides an example to us all of how research can be done with limited resources and space. I hope all of our faculty will aspire to this level of research.”
Refinetti’s projects investigate the sensory mechanism (dark adaptation) by which circadian rhythms are synchronized by the daily cycle of light and darkness (entrainment). His specific aims are to investigate whether several mammalian species exhibit the process of circadian dark adaptation recently demonstrated in golden hamsters and mice, to evaluate whether circadian dark adaptation is a sensory process similar to that well established in the visual system, and to determine whether circadian dark adaptation occurs peripherally or centrally.
His research is particularly relevant to the design of special workplaces, such as submarines and underground facilities, and to the understanding of metabolic adjustments associated with the yearly seasons in livestock as well as in humans.
In more general terms, knowledge of environment and entrainment has potential in applications where the timing of behavioral and physiological processes must be coordinated with the daily alternation of day and night. The research also has potential application in the prevention of jet lag and the malaise associated with shift work, the treatment of sleep disorders and depression, the scheduling of optimal times for administration of medicines, and the planning of astronauts schedules for space exploration.
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Roberto Refinetti, psychology, USC Salkehatchie
