Dr Siobhan Banks

Siobhan is currently a Research Fellow in the Centre for Sleep Research. After receiving her Ph.D. in 2004 from Flinders University of South Australia, she trained at the Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health, before moving to the University of Pennsylvania to pursue her research interests in the neurobehavioral consequences of sleep loss. Initially a postdoctoral researcher, supervised by Professor David Dinges, she joined the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine faculty as an Assistant Professor of Sleep in Psychiatry in 2006. While in the US Siobhan was a co-investigator on several grants primarily focused on the effects of sleep loss on performance and health. The first study was aimed at understanding the dose response effect of different durations of recovery sleep following chronic sleep restriction. The results from this work have important implications for understanding the mechanisms underlying sleep loss and neurobehavioural dysfunction associated with shift work and irregular work hours and the amount of sleep time and the number of nights needed to recover from a sleep debt. Additionally, she was an investigator on two National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NASA) funded projects, one aimed at determining optimal sleep-wake schedules with restricted sleep and recovery sleep opportunities, and the other investigating unobtrusive ways to measure performance stress using optical computer recognition algorithms applied to video of facial features. To investigate the individual differences in response to sleep deprivation, Siobhan was also a co-investigator on grant which used the technique of arterial spin labeling functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the possible neurobiology underlying individual differences in the response to sleep loss. In 2009 Siobhan moved back to Australia with a research fellowship from the University of South Australia to continue her studies into the effects of sleep loss on health and neurobehavioral performance.

Australasian Sleep Association

American Academy of Sleep Medicine

Sleep Research Society

European Sleep Research Society

Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand

• Siobhan’s broad research interests focus on the impact of sleep loss on neurobehavioral and physiological functioning (both in sleep disordered patients and through experimental manipulation in healthy individuals). She has particular expertise with objective tests of daytime sleepiness and performance.

Selected Publications

Banks, S., Barnes, M., Tarquinio, N., Lack, L.C., Pierce, R. & McEvoy, R.D: Factors associated with the maintenance of wakefulness test in patients with mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnoea and normal subjects. Journal of Sleep Research. 13(1):71-8, 2004.

Banks, S., Barnes, M., Tarquinio, N., Lack, L.C., Pierce, R. & McEvoy, R.D. Normal maintenance of wakefulness test results in normal, healthy subjects. SLEEP. 27(4):99-802, 2004.

Barnes, M., McEvoy, R. D., Banks, S., Tarquinio, N., Murray, C. G., Vowles, N. & Pierce, R. J.: Morbidity and efficacy of treatment with nasal continuous positive airway pressure and mandibular advancement splint in mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 170(6):656-664, 2004.

Banks, S., Catcheside, P., Lack, L.C., Grunstein, R. & McEvoy, R. D.: Low Levels of Alcohol Impair Driving Simulator Performance and Reduce Perception of Crash Risk in Sleep Restricted Subjects. SLEEP. 27(6):1063-1067, 2004.

Banks, S., Catcheside, P., Lack, L.C., Grunstein, R. & McEvoy, R. D.: The maintenance of wakefulness test and driving simulator performance. SLEEP. 28(11):1381-1385, 2005 (see Editorial George CFP SLEEP 28; 1360-1).

Banks, S. & Dinges, D. F.: Behavioral and physiological consequences of sleep restriction in humans. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. 3(5):519-528, 2007.

Basner, M., Fomberstein, K. M., Razavi, F. M., Banks, S., William, J. H., Rosa, R. & Dinges, D. F. American Time Use Survey: Sleep Time and Its Relationship to Waking Activities. SLEEP. 30(9):1085-1095, 2007.

Vakulin, A., Baulk, S. D., Catcheside, P.G., Anderson, R., van den Heuvel, C. J. Banks, S., & McEvoy, R. D. Effects of moderate sleep deprivation and low dose alcohol on driving simulator performance and perception in young men. SLEEP. 30(10):1327-1333, 2007.

Mallis, M. M., Banks, S., & Dinges, D. F.: Sleep and circadian control of neurobehavioral function. In R. Parasuraman and M. Rizzo (Eds), Neuroergonomics: The Brain at Work. 2007

Minkel, J. D., Banks, S., & Dinges, D. F.: Human Sleep Function: Neurobehavioral changes with sleep deprivation. New Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, 2008

Banks, S & Dinges, D. F.: Chronic sleep deprivation. In: Kryger MH, Roth T, Dement WC, eds. Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine. 5th ed. In press

Mallis, M. M., Banks, S. & Dinges D. F.: Aircrew Fatigue and Circadian Rhythmicity, In Wiener EL and Nagel DC Eds. Human Factors in Aviation, 2nd Edition. In press

Dinges, D. F. & Banks, S.: Basics of sleep guide. Sleep Research Society. In Press