Backed by a $1.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore is establishing a new center to study sleep disturbances.

The Johns Hopkins Center for Sleep-Related Symptom Science is expected to help define and break cycles of sleeplessness and suffering, according to a news release. The center is the brainchild of Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing researcher Gayle Page, RN, DNSc. FAAN, and Michael Smith, PhD, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and is a collaboration between the schools of nursing and medicine.

"It was the twinkle in both our eyes," Page said in the release about the center, which will provide researchers the skills to further their work and will foster collaboration among researchers whose specialties offer a natural fit for a sleep study component.

Funding comes from an NIH "Center of Excellence" grant.

"A unique feature of the center is the combination of basic science animal models of sleep disruption along with advanced clinical monitoring of sleep in both the traditional inpatient sleep laboratory setting as well the participants’ real world environment," Smith said in the release. "The center is a unique opportunity to expand the Hopkins sleep research infrastructure to permit investigators unfamiliar with sleep research the opportunity to include this critical aspect of health into their work."

In all, eight Hopkins research projects will be launched or enhanced through the NIH grant, which also will build on an alliance with the University of Washington Center for Research on Management of Sleep Disturbances.