Epileptic Seizure Onset and Spread

Epilepsy Research at Weill Cornell Medicine Neurosurgery


Some seizures start in focal areas in the brain and spread horizontally throughout the brain. These seizures can potentially be cured by removing the seizure focus or interrupting the spread of the seizures. Unfortunately, we cannot always localize the seizure onset zone with adequate precision using conventional electrical recordings. The Epilepsy Research lab is using voltage sensitive dyes and calcium dyes to measure optically changes in the current and electrical signals in the brain without electrodes. These new techniques allow the lab to characterize seizure onset and spread as never before done using standard electrodes. For these studies epilepsy models are used in rodent cortex coupled with multi-contact electrical recordings such as provided by the Utah array or Michigan array. These studies involve collaborations with investigators from both Columbia University and Sheffield University in England.

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