The SCNRL is located at the University of Chicago Hospitals, on the south side of Chicago, Illinois. The Laboratory is a 1,800 square-foot facility established in 2002 to study human volunteers. It includes a control room and three spacious bedrooms furnished in the style of a comfortable hotel, including a queen-size bed, a TV-video-DVD center, a computer with internet access, a desk, an armchair and a private bathroom with shower. The SCNRL is located directly under the General Clinical Research Center where all invasive procedures are performed.

Studies run in the Laboratory obtain integrative assessments of sleep, sleepiness, mood, and of endocrine, metabolic and cardiovascular function under various experimental conditions.

The technical capabilities of the SCNRL include actigraphy, sleep and wake EEG recordings using Nihon Kohden equipment, questionnaires (of sleepiness, mood, hunger, appetite, etc), vigilance tests (Harvard Cognitive Performance Battery, Psychomotor Vigilance Test), cardiovascular measures (heart rate/inter beat interval, blood pressure, impedance cardiography), circulating levels of neuroendocrine and metabolic variables, metabolic responses to challenge tests, saliva and urine collections, resting metabolic rate and monitoring of caloric intake and food preference.