Christa Nehs, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Anesthesia
Mass General Brigham Department of Anesthesiology, Massachusetts General Hospital
Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Metabolic and Mental Health Program, McLean Hospital
Research Focus:
The Nehs lab studies how metabolic and sleep-based interventions regulate brain energy to improve outcomes across aging, postoperative delirium, psychiatric illness, and Alzheimer’s disease. Although these conditions are often treated as separate diseases, they share common underlying metabolic and sleep disruption as core features. Using in vivo electrophysiology, metabolic imaging, and behavioral models, we define how mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and inflammation drive brain vulnerability. These converging mechanisms position brain energy metabolism and sleep as a unifying framework for understanding brain function and disease, and a foundation for developing targeted therapies.
Research Interests: Neuroscience, Sleep, Metabolism, Aging, Anesthesia, Psychiatric Disorders, Neurodegenerative Disorders
