John Peever, PhD: Principal Investigator
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Jimmy Fraigne, PhD—Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream
​Co-Investigator

I am interested in understanding how circuits in the brain generate both sleep and wakefulness, and how damage to these circuits can lead to specific disorders. My work in the lab focuses on 2 main questions 1) How does the nervous system couple cortical arousal with the appropriate motor activity to produce meaningful behavior? 2) How are REM sleep and its characteristics generated and controlled? I also take great pride in mentoring and teaching both graduate and undergraduate students in sleep research, helping them achieve their goals. In my spare time, I enjoy food by cooking, finding new restaurants in Toronto, and travelling the world one farmers market at a time. I'm also a flutist and an avid reader of both French and English literature. 

Russell Luke, PhD Candidate

I am a PhD candidate in the Peever lab, where my main research interest is to uncover the mechanisms underlying REM sleep behavior disorder— a prodromal manifestation of neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson's disease. My thesis involves developing disease-relevant mouse models of RBD that accurately reflects its pathological basis.  Outside of the lab, I enjoy spending time with my loved ones and exploring all the sights and sounds that Toronto has to offer.

Check out my publications below:​
Luke R, Fraigne JJ, Peever JH (2024) Sleep: How stress keeps you up at night. Current Biology 34(1):R23-R25. 
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Luke R, Alymova I (2023) Unraveling the Mechanisms Underlying Disordered Sleep in Alzheimer’s Disease. J Neurosci 43:7899–7901.

Anita Taksokhan, PhD Candidate

I am a PhD student interested in the role of brainstem dorsal pons projecting to the basal forebrain area in production of theta activities during REM sleep. These theta activities facilitate memory and learning of novel experiences. Additionally, I am currently in the process of generating the first mouse line that resembles idiopathic hypersomnia to study the cause and phenotype of this condition. Outside the lab I enjoy exploring  restaurants, having political debates, and sketching.

Brittany Dugan, PhD Candidate

Hey there! My name's Brittany, and I'm originally from Ottawa where I completed my BSc at Carleton University in Neuroscience, with minors in both Statistics and Psychology. My PhD project focuses on the relationship between RBD and synucleinopathic disorders such as PD and MSA. In my free time, I love to sing, play video games, and thrift! 

Check out my paper on how PPT neurons regulate arousal and motor behavior: 
Dugan BJ, Lee H, Peever J. Glutamate neurons in the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus control arousal state and motor behavior in mice. Sleep. 2023 Apr 12;46(4):zsac322. doi: 10.1093/sleep/zsac322. PMID: 36594478.​

Anthony Kadamani, PhD Candidate

​Bonjour! My name's Anthony, and I'm originally from Ottawa where I completed my BSc at the University of Ottawa in Biomedical Science. My PhD project focuses on the spread of alpha-synuclein from the periphery to the CNS. In my free time, I love swimming. My favourite animal is a raccoon 🦝, and I can speak French, English, Arabic, and Mandarin. 

Irina Alymova, PhD Candidate​

​​I am a PhD student studying the role of projections from the dopaminergic A11 nucleus to the TMN histamine neurons in wakefulness control. The main techniques that I am using are fiber photometry and optogenetics. In my spare time, I enjoy trying new restaurants and playing sims.

Matthew Danesh, PhD Candidate

​I completed my undergraduate here at UofT which is where I first fell in love with sleep neuroscience. After completing my MSc at Simon Fraser University, I came back to Toronto and joined the Peever lab. My project focuses on the role of astrocytes within REM sleep circuitry and their regulation of REM sleep homeostasis.  I love playing and watching basketball, and rabbits are my favourite animal.

Myles Dockery, MSc Candidate

I am a MSc student studying the link between sleep and Alzheimer's disease.  Specifically, I study how tau pathology in the Locus Coeruleus - the first region to develop AD pathology - impacts the sleep-wake architecture.  In my spare time, I enjoy watching hockey games, reading, and engaging in political discourse. 

Peever Lab Alumni
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PhD Students

​Simon Lui, PhD
Postdoctoral fellow | Dr. Laura Corbit's Lab | University of Toronto
Zoltan Torontali, PhD
Medical Sciences Liaison | Janssen Pharmaceuticals
Jennifer Lapierre, PhD
Animal Ethics and Compliance Manager | University of Toronto
Peter Schwarz-Lam, PhD
Business Process Integration Manager | University of Toronto
Arash Tadjalli, PhD
Postdoctoral fellow | Dr. Gordon Mitchell's Lab | University of Florida     ​
Christian Burgess, PhD
Assistant Professor | Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute | University of Michigan
Patti Brooks, PhD
Lawyer | Gilbert's

​MSc Students

Ryan Ruan​
Gerard Kim
Sharshi Bulner
​Garret Horton
​Negar Golmohammadi
Daniel Li
​Dillon McKenna
​Paul Sanghera
​Matthew Snow
​Nicole Yee
​Andrea Bevan
Steven Ngo