On the 21st June to 25th June 2025 a team of sleep researchers from the ASCENT sleep laboratory at the University of Cape Town attended the annual Research Society on Alcohol (RSA) Conference in New Orleans. Associate Professor Gosia Lipinska, together with Masters students, Julia Tubaro and Thumira Pillay, presented novel data investigating sleep and its association to memory and emotion processing in a group of young adults with prenatal alcohol exposure. The study was novel in that it is one of the first to use quantitative sleep measures in an older group of individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). Secondly, quantitative measures of sleep have never been used to understand cognitive outcomes in this clinical group. The data was collected over two years in collaboration with Wayne State University, alongside pioneering researchers in the field of fetal alcohol research, Sandra and Joseph Jacobson. Attending the conference was a wonderful opportunity for the South African and American teams to meet in person.

The first day of the conference consisted of study groups exploring niche alcohol-related topics from HIV to immunology. The ASCENT team was fortunate to attend the FASD Study Group, which gave them the opportunity to listen to innovative research taking place in the field, including a newer perspective on the role of polysubstance use during pregnancy and its impact on infant development. In the afternoon they had the chance to present their work during a poster session. Their results sparked intrigue among the FASD researchers, given that it was one of a select few to study a human cohort in comparison to the many animal studies. The international teams were interested in how the work in their animal models was reflected in human research.
Over the following days the team presented their work individually during afternoon poster sessions where they were able to showcase the results to those outside of the FASD space. These sessions allowed UCT to showcase the work being done at the ASCENT lab and present itself as a distinguished site for sleep and FASD research. Julia and Thumira were also able to establish themselves amongst other postgraduate researchers by fielding questions about their theses and providing insights for future interventions to members of funding bodies and other prominent figures in the field. Overall, the RSA conference and poster sessions were great opportunities to see what is being done in the field of alcohol research and allowed for critical discussion of the findings associated with each project.

Between conference and poster sessions the team was also able to explore the culture of New Orleans including their soulful jazz clubs and local hearty cuisine with their American colleagues. Overall, the conference was extremely successful in showcasing academic outputs and fostering collaboration with international institutions.