Neurodegeneration, Brain Health, Dementia, Sleep, Pathological Ageing

Dr Lazar is an associate professor and principal investigator in the School of Health Sciences with a strong research interest in the significance of human sleep and circadian rhythmicity in brain health. With more than 15 years of experience in sleep research Alpar has studied sleep and cognition in children and adults presenting normal and pathological development and ageing. Following his PhD studies at Semmelweis University Budapest where he investigated the sleep physiological correlates of Asperger syndrome, he soon joined the Surrey Sleep Research Centre, UK where he studied the genetics of sleep-wake regulation and chronotype. His work has contributed to a better understanding of the impact of sleep-wake homeostasis and circadian rhythmicity on brain activity and cognition. As he gradually became interested in ageing and neurodegeneration Alpar joined the University of Cambridge where he investigated the role of early sleep disturbances in Huntington’s disease (HD), an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder, and showed that sleep is one of the earliest homeostatic processes to go wrong in HD. Alpar joined UEA by the end of 2016 and spearheaded the launch of the Sleep and Brain Research Unit. He has been awarded a Wellcome trust Seed Award in Science to study the impact of genetic risk factors for developing Alzheimer’s disease on sleep-wake regulation and cognition. Alpar also holds a UEA innovation development grant, a UKRI-Zinc Healthy Ageing Catalyst Award and leads on the Sleep and Brain Health Research programme at UEA.  

Head of Sleep and Brain Research Unit (SBRU)