Poor sleep quality is a prevalent problem across the lifespan and may be especially detrimental during critical periods like pregnancy, childhood, and adolescence. In my laboratory, we aim to understand how poor sleep contributes to impairments in behavioral outcomes, including cognitive function. My ultimate goal is to lead a translational research program that may introduce new therapeutic approaches to alleviate outcomes for those suffering with sleep problems throughout the lifespan.

The laboratory thrives with the creative nature and hard work of fantastic trainees and I always welcome inquisitive minds to reach out for opportunities to join my team.

Email pocivavsek.lab@gmail.com!

Noteworthy News

Graduate student Courtney Wright successfully defended her PhD on August 19, 2026! Congratulations, Dr. Wright! 🥳

Congratulations to Maria Piroli, graduate student, who received a travel award to attend the 17th Conference for the International Society for Tryptophan Research (ISTRY) in Padova, Italy!

📣 ✨New Paper Alert✨ Biochemical Regulation of Brain Kynurenic Acid Synthesis and Inhibition in Rats Is Sensitive to the Time of Day published in ACS Chemical Neuroscience. Congratulations to Courtney Wright, first-author, on the excellent manuscript and digital artwork selected for the journal cover!

Spring 2026 updates: Graduate students Maria Piroli and Corbin Witt successfully completed their comprehensive exams, and Sam Walther completed his candidacy exam!

📣 ✨Collaboration & Paper Alert✨ 📣 A deep learning software tool for automated sleep staging in rats via single channel EEG published in NPP-Digital Psychiatry and Neuroscience. This study is collaborative work with Dr. Homayoun Valafar’s team to develop a deep neural network to stage rodent EEG data into sleep and wake states.

📣 ✨New Paper Alert✨ 📣 Parental kynurenine 3-monooxygenase genotype in mice directs sex-specific behavioral outcomes in offspring published in @ossdcomm.bsky.social Biology of #SexDifferences 🐀😴 🧠 #sleep #mitochondria #cognition #breastmilk

Spring 2025: We attended Advances of Sleep and Circadian Science in Clearwater Beach to kick off 2025! Courtney Wright was awarded a travel award from the Sleep Research Society and took home the “Best Overall” prize at the conference Data Blitz!

📣 ✨New Review Alert✨ 📣 Neuroactive Kynurenines as Pharmacological Targets: New Experimental Tools and Exciting Therapeutic Opportunities 🧠💊💉🐀🐭 published in #PharmacologicalReviews with co-authors Robbie Schwarcz & Sophie Erhardt!

Fall 2024 updates: We had presentations at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Chicago and American College of Neuropsychopharmacology meeting in Phoenix in Fall 2024! Sam Walther was awarded a Small Research Grant from the Sleep Research Society Foundation!

Spring 2024 was full of action! Courtney Wright was awarded a @USC SPARC graduate fellowship and a Maternal & Child health graduate fellowship! Sam Walther received a Magellan Scholar Award from @USC Office of the Vice President of Research! Sam was also honored with fellowship from the Sleep Research Society to attend SLEEP 2024 in Houston, TX! Charlie Grant received a SURF Award from @USC Honors College! Courtney Wright & Charlie Grant were award winners at Discover USC 2024!

New paper alert! Publication in Journal of Sleep Research from a highly collaborative effort entitled “Reducing brain kynurenic acid precludes kynurenine-induced sleep disturbances”!

Our review is published in Neurobiology of Stress entitled “The stress of losing sleep: Sex-specific neurobiological outcomes". The article is part of a Special Issue edited by Drs. Thomas Neylan and Gina Poe focused on Sleep and Stress Exposure: From Neurobiology to Clinical Outcomes. Congrats to first author Courtney Wright!

Discover USC 2023 was a huge success! Very proud of Dr. Snezana Milosavljevic for winning 1st place at the postdoctoral scholars poster session!

Congrats to first author Dr. Snezana Milosavljevic for a new publication in Translational Psychiatry that places critical attention on KAT II inhibition as a novel strategy to improve sleep stability. Press release is available on the USC School of Medicine news page!

Graduate student Katie Rentschler successfully defended her PhD on March 8, 2023!

Dr. Pocivavsek received recognition as a 2022 Breakthrough Star at USC!