Mechanisms, Tech/AI, Treatment
Researchers lead by recent CURE Epilepsy Taking Flight awardee Rachel June Smith built patient-specific network models from interictal intracranial electroencephalogram (iEEG) results to test whether a new, virtual approach using less-invasive stimulation methods could reveal information about the underlying brain network and identify highly excitable regions.
Tech/AI, Treatment
Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Massachusetts General Hospital are testing a method to electrically stimulate the central thalamus (CT), which is located deep in the brain. This method of stimulation, called CT-deep brain stimulation (DBS), can help arouse subjects from unconscious states induced by traumatic brain injury or anesthesia and can boost cognition and performance in awake animals. However, it can also result in seizures.
Genetics, Pediatric Epilepsy
Scientists at McGill University have identified a genetic cause of severe seizures in children, with the help of Kelly Cervantes's daughter Adelaide. The research team conducting the study analyzed samples from Adelaide and others with mutations in a gene called DENND5A. The scientists found that mutations in this gene stopped brain cells from dividing properly during development. The result is a developing brain with fewer stem cells, shortening the crucial time period that the brain forms as an embryo. The finding provides answers to families of people with this rare genetic condition.
Genetics, Tech/AI
Researchers at the Epilepsy Genetics Initiative (ENGIN) at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) used machine learning and artificial intelligence to comb through medical records and use clinical notes to match symptoms with specific genetic epilepsies. Building upon previously developed techniques, the researchers aimed to identify early clinical features that could suggest a genetic diagnosis of epilepsy.
Mechanisms
Researchers from the University of Virginia School of Medicine have discovered functions of structures in the brain that could help understand and treat several neurological disorders.
Genetics
Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital demonstrated the value of DNA methylation patterns for identifying the root cause of developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEEs). Their new study shows that specific gene methylation and genome-wide methylation “episignatures” can help identify the genes that cause DEE. DEEs affect 1 in 590 children and involve more than 825 genes.
Treatment
According to a new study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and Linköping University in Sweden, the general anesthetic propofol may hold the keys to developing new treatment strategies for epilepsy and other neurological disorders.
Mechanisms
A team of epilepsy specialists at University of California San Francisco has developed a method to predict 24-hour seizure risk. The researchers, led by Vikram Rao, MD, PhD, a Distinguished Professor in Neurology, showed that the storm of brain activity characterizing a seizure is presaged by abnormal communication between specific areas of the brain.
Tech/AI
The ILAE Sharp Waves Podcasts focuses on the Human Intracerebral EEG Platform, which is a cloud-based, collaborative environment that encourages the sharing of data and the conducting of research with state-of-the-art methodologies and software. This platform can be used to improve research methods and promote data sharing in order to best drive epilepsy research forward.
