Epilepsy Scientific Interest Group

The Epilepsy Scientific Interest Group brings together investigators, clinicians, and researchers with a shared interest in epilepsy. These interests include understanding the pathophysiology of epilepsy and the consequent effects of treatment on neural function and connectivity. These interests also include the multiple opportunities for research that are available and that can arise through the standard care treatment of patients with epilepsy. NINDS currently has an active clinical epilepsy program in which patients are seen and evaluated, and at times offered surgical resection of regions of epileptic tissue. This clinical paradigm offers a number of opportunities for scientific investigation across the NIH Intramural Research Program. These include, but are not limited to, structural and functional imaging before and after surgical resection, including the effects of surgical resection of regions of the human cortex on neural plasticity and on cognitive function, intra-operative and long term chronic recordings of neural activity that are routinely acquired in the course of treatment and understanding those recordings to gain insight into normal and pathologic neural circuits and function, and the evaluation of human brain tissue samples for understanding the physiology and molecular and genetic pathways in both normal and diseased brain. Many studies that are currently active address both the clinical aspects of epilepsy as well as related questions of research, and involve investigators across NINDS, NIMH, NICHD, and other institutes. The Epilepsy Scientific Interest Group provides a formal forum for facilitating interactions among clinicians and researchers, and for sharing progress in these studies with investigators across institutes. The Epilepsy Scientific Interest Group holds meetings approximately every two months, and each meeting provides an opportunity for an investigator or clinician from within NIH or from outside NIH to present their work. These meetings also provide an opportunity for additional investigators to learn more about clinical and research work related to epilepsy at NIH, and to get involved in research directly related to patients with epilepsy or in research that can emerge simply as a result of the opportunities provided through clinical care of these patients.

Mailing List

To join the Epilepsy Scientific Interest Group mailing list, please visit the Epilepsy Scientific Interest Group Listserv home page, then click the “Subscribe or Unsubscribe” link in the right sidebar.