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Related: Video | $5M research partnership highlights Dayton's collaborative efforts

KETTERING — Kettering Health Network and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) will lead a large, local collaboration to learn better ways of improving the performance of sleep-deprived people without using drugs.

The $5 million study will include at least $1.6 million of federal funds and still-undetermined state funds, KHN president Frank Perez said Tuesday in announcing the project. He expected researchers and equipment would be ready to start in June, assuming approval from the board that certifies the safety of any human research.

"This puts Kettering Health and Dayton among the medical research elite in Ohio, the U.S. and the world," said vice president Terry Talbott of Siemens Medical Solutions, which will contribute its latest imaging technology. The device will allow researchers to see "what happens to the brain" during various studies, KHN vice president Gary Lustgarten said.

The Air Force's goals are to learn both who's least likely to suffer cognitive decline from sleep deprivation and how to reduce those effects "with nutritional supplements and training methods, as opposed to chemicals with their unwanted side effects," said Col. Patricia Reilly, chief of the AFRL's Biosciences and Protection Division.

It is increasingly common for pilots to go "20, 30 hours with no rest or very little sleep," Reilly said. The Air Force has found some success in keeping them alert with the psychostimulant modafinil, marketed as Provigil. It is not an amphetamine stimulant, but Reilly said it still has chemical effects on the mind.

The other research partners are Qbase of Beavercreek and University of Dayton Research Institute, a broad coalition that "will help us avoid duplication of efforts and get the job done quicker," Reilly said. She expected some research results after one year.

The research could have such civilian beneficiaries as truck drivers, commercial pilots and physicians, who can work hospital shifts longer than 24 hours. But the potential benefits of improving cognitive performance go well beyond the obvious targets, Perez said.

"We're trying to enhance wellness here without the use of chemicals," he said. "That's very applicable to all of us."

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2129 or klamb@DaytonDailyNews.com.