UC Irvine pharmacology Professor Qun-Yong Zhou shows mice in their sleeping quarters as part of a study Zhou is leading on why some animals sleep at night and others sleep during the day.
(Kevin Chang | Daily Pilot)

A study led by UC Irvine scientists involving animals may someday lead to treatments for people with insomnia and other sleep disorders, the researchers say.

As the team — led by Qun-Yong Zhou, a UCI professor of pharmacology — studied the sleeping and waking patterns of mice and monkeys, the group determined that the patterns were not governed by a specific portion of the brain commonly thought to be the body’s “master clock.”

Published by Los Angeles Times August 31, 2016