Tell us about your current research.
I manage two research laboratories at the CIUSSS du Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal. The first is dedicated to human sleep, and it mainly studies the links between mental health and psychiatric illnesses, particularly in children and adolescents. The work is done thanks to a dedicated coordinator and former master's student, Marjolaine Chicoine. The other laboratory is dedicated to fundamental research on the heart-brain interaction, for example in cases of depression after a myocardial infarction. This team can also count on a dedicated coordinator, Geneviève Frégeau.
I am also working on two projects whose results have just been submitted for publication. The first concerns brain activity during sleep and daytime functioning (during the day) of people living with an autism spectrum disorder or with attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity (ADHD). The main contributor to this research is Dr. Katia Gagnon, neuropsychologist and postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory. The second project focuses on the evaluation of sleep and functioning of gifted children, among others with the doctoral research of Laurianne Bastien and Rachel Théoret.
I also collaborate on various projects, including one on the evaluation of motor activity during sleep in children living with ADHD, with the help of the technologist-head of the sleep laboratory, Élyse Chevrier. Another project focuses on the use of sleeping pills by children assessed at the sleep clinic. Finally, research aims to validate the HIBOU questionnaire for rapid screening of sleep disorders in children and adolescents.
I am also part of a pan-Canadian research project on the effectiveness of an online treatment for insomnia in children, i.e. support for parents through information sheets with practical advice. This research is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
I am also responsible for a research project on the effects of an adapted and innovative residential program on the quality of life of autistic adults. The main contributor to this project is Dr. Anne-Marie Nader, neuropsychologist and also a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory. This research is supported by the Véro & Louis.
What deeply motivated you to study the links between mental health and sleep?It was first the contact with Joseph De Koninck, my first professor of psychology at the University of Ottawa (where I did my bachelor's and my master's), which led me to sleep research. Passionate about his field himself, he introduced me to the fascinating world of sleep and dreams through his teaching and practice. Indeed, he was very bold in giving me and three other young student colleagues access to his laboratory so that we could carry out a project of our own. That's when I got the "sleep bug".
I then continued my training with Dr. Jacques Montplaisir, psychiatrist, tireless researcher and renowned professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Montreal. On the recommendation of Joseph De Koninck, I was able to join his laboratory at the Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur-de-Montréal to carry out my doctoral research project. I then had the chance to benefit from his luminous scientific mind, which combines fundamental research and clinical research in a remarkable way. During a training, the length of which is unfortunately no longer permitted today, it gave me great freedom of action by allowing me to participate in several research projects, in which I was accompanied by researchers and clinicians. of talent who collaborated with his laboratory. At the same time, I witnessed his work as a psychiatrist, which confirmed my desire to combine research and the clinic. This is how I found myself a professor in the same university department as him and how I began my career as a researcher at the same research center.
I must add that two postdoctoral training courses, one at McGill University (with Doctor Claude De Montigny) and the other at the Collège de France in Paris (with Jacques Glowinski and Anne-Marie Thierry) have contributed enormously on my journey. During these internships, I evolved outside the field of sleep by working on the animal model in neuropharmacology. This allowed me to broaden my culture, not only scientific, but also social, which goes very well together.
This story is detailed in an article I published for the fiftieth anniversary of the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Montreal[1].
What is the biggest impediment to achieving results in your research?I would use the word challenge rather than obstacle to describe the situation of research, whose facets are multiple and the actors, numerous and diversified. One of the illustrations of this challenge, at least in the field of health, concerns the possibilities of updating research projects – especially funding – which are almost essentially oriented from the top of the decision-making pyramid. Decisions thus revolve around the needs linked to government mandates, the pressure coming from public emergency situations, the desire to obtain immediately applicable results, the desire for media visibility, even the incentive to market the results, among other examples. This breaks the balance that should exist between these considerations and the initiatives emerging from the base, from the free reflection of researchers, students, research staff. My perception is that researchers often find themselves at odds.
How does your work reach the general public?Sleep is a naturally attractive subject, because we all experience it intimately. You don't need to be a specialist to realize that a bad night interferes with the well-being of the next day, whether for yourself, your family or your co-workers. The observation is the same on how daily annoyances (think of the constraints linked to the pandemic), affect our sleep. We all have to deal at one time or another with daytime sleepiness, insomnia, nighttime discomforts – including nightmares, seasonal clock changes, etc.
There is therefore a great thirst for knowledge about sleep among the general public. The results of sleep research affect him easily, because we all know someone, if only ourselves, who has a sleep problem, whether temporary or chronic. The commercial trend that brings different ways to measure sleep to the market, such as smart watches and online applications, is a good indicator of the current concern for knowing yourself better.
Do you work with international colleagues and, if so, how does their research influence yours?I rarely work directly with international colleagues. I feed on their writings, I travel a lot to listen to their conferences and give my own, which allows me to have rich exchanges with them, sometimes long and sustained, which influence me. I visit laboratories, foreign colleagues come to visit mine, but I must admit that I do not feel the need to work actively with international colleagues on research projects. I could possibly benefit from this in terms of diversifying the technologies used or the participants in my studies, but my collaborations with national colleagues are enough for me to guarantee very high quality work with homogeneous cohorts of participants in sufficient numbers. On the other hand, I consider that the offer of stays abroad for our students is a source of enrichment to be encouraged. The rising generations of researchers can thus benefit from the greatest possible scientific and social culture.
In your field of expertise, what breakthrough in the next ten years would represent a great advance?Without a doubt, redefining sleep on a technical level will serve us all, both researchers and clinicians, patients and the general public . The definition of the different phases of sleep as we know them today is destined to disappear. For example, a promising trend at the present time aims to understand sleep as a non-uniform state of the brain: some of the parts of the latter (rather reduced in surface) would sleep during the day, while others would wake up at night, which would permanently ensure the execution of all the functions of the waking and sleeping states.
How do you envision the future in your field of research?The future is certainly exciting, because basic research and clinical research feed each other, naturally. The dormant scientific leadership, assumed by the major national and international associations, guides the work of its base at the same time as it is inspired by it, and tries to influence government and funding authorities for the best.
If you had a book to offer to someone interested in the mechanisms of sleep, what would it be? this subject as well as the scientific ferment in this field of research, the person who wishes to obtain one can feel distraught in front of all these titles.My first suggestion would therefore be that of an excellent book republished this year, written by Charles M. Morin, an internationally respected sleep specialist: Vaincre les enemies du sleep (Éditions de l’homme, 2021). The author offers practical solutions for a host of sleep problems experienced at different times in life. http://www.editions-homme.com/vaincre-enemies-sommeil/charles-m-morin/livre/9782761954754
And because children's sleep is a source of concern for many parents and even a frequent reason for medical consultation, I also recommend the book Finally I sleep… and my parents too by Evelyne Martello (Éditions du CHU Sainte- Justine, 2018). This perfect companion guide for parents is in its second edition, and its author is a highly experienced nurse clinician, a graduate of the University of Montreal and who worked for nearly 15 years at my clinic. https://www.editions-chu-sainte-justine.org/livres/enfin-dors-mes-parents-also-edition-266.html
What is one of your great passions besides your job?My great passions are the outdoors and music… but never both at the same time! I like to find myself in the great outdoors, canoeing on a lake or on my cross-country skis in the mountains, in peace. I have a large collection of records, of all musical genres. I appreciate creativity in all musical forms, some more difficult to tame than others, but I keep an open mind, I explore. Music, even syncopated and played loudly, brings calm to me and pushes me to introspection.
— An article by Marie-Paule Primeau, editor-in-chief of the journal Dire, University of Montreal
