NEUROSCIENCE (symposium session): When fear has no bedtime: REM sleep, threat memory and PTSD
Tracks
Track 1
| Friday, November 13, 2026 |
| 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM |
Details
Sleep disturbance is both a hallmark symptom and a driving mechanism of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This plenary brings together four researchers working at the intersection of sleep and psychological trauma to explore how sleep shapes PTSD from its earliest origins to its long-term consequences. Topics span the full translational arc i.e., the role of sleep in consolidating or reducing intrusive memories after trauma, sex differences in fear extinction recall, pharmacological manipulation of REM sleep to enhance extinction, prevalence of obstructive sleep apnoea in young adults with PTSD symptoms, and the clinical consequences of PTSD-related sleep disruption for neurodegenerative risk in military veterans. Together, these presentations illuminate the bidirectional relationship between sleep and PTSD, and point toward novel therapeutic targets for an under-treated and under-recognised clinical problem.
Speaker
Ms Jessica Ogden
PhD Student
Monash University
Mechanisms underlying sleep's protective role in intrusive memory development
10:30 AM - 10:50 AMBiography
Jess is a PhD student and clinical psychologist who has worked primarily with trauma exposed individuals, including those diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder. Her PhD research targets the mechanisms through which sleep affects daytime intrusive spontaneous cognition, including intrusive memories and mind wandering. Drawing on cognitive psychology, neuroscience and sleep research, she coordinated this study to directly test mechanisms linking sleep and intrusive memories.
Dr Maya Schenker
Associate Research Fellow
University of Melbourne
Rapid eye movement sleep in the pathophysiology and treatment of PTSD
10:50 AM - 11:10 AMBiography
Dr. Maya Schenker is an Associate Research Fellow and early career researcher at the University of Melbourne. She is currently the research coordinator for an NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence investigating predictors of response to exposure therapy in anxiety disorders, while also undertaking supervised clinical practice towards general registration as a psychologist. Her research interest is in furthering our understanding of how sleep influences the mechanisms underlying PTSD and anxiety disorders, and how it affects symptom expression in everyday life. Maya’s goal is to find better ways to prevent and manage these disorders by targeting sleep.
Prof Amy Jordan
Director, John Trinder Sleep Laboratory
University of Melbourne
Obstructive sleep apnoea in PTSD: who, why and how best to treat
11:10 AM - 11:30 AMBiography
Prof Jordan completed her PhD at the University of Adelaide in 2002, before completing post-doctoral training at Harvard Medical School and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. She joined the University of Melbourne in 2009 and is currently the Director of the John Trinder Sleep Laboratory and Deputy Head of School in the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences. Her research interests include obstructive sleep apnoea, as well as the relationships between mental health and pain with sleep.
Prof Miranda Lim
Professor
Oregon Health and Science University
Clinical phenotypes of sleep disturbance in PTSD: Implications for neurodegeneration
11:30 AM - 11:50 AMBiography
Dr. Miranda Lim is Professor in the Department of Neurology at Oregon Health & Science University and holds a joint appointment at the Veterans Affairs Portland Health Care System. She has served as MPI and director of the Oregon Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (NIH P30 Center) and Associate Director of VA's Advanced Fellowship in Mental Illness Research and Treatment (MIRT) for VA's VISN20 Northwest Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC). Dr. Lim is a physician-scientist board-certified in Neurology and Sleep Medicine, and leads a combined basic, translational, and clinical research program, Sleep & Health Applied Research Program (SHARP).
Dr Rick Wassing
Senior Lecturer
Macquarie University
Chair
Biography
Dr Scott Coussens
Sleep Laboratory Manager
Women's and Children's Hospital
Chair
Biography
