Grant: CIHR Fellowship

Epilepsy is characterized by recurrent spontaneous seizures. This prevalent neurological disorder, which comprises many different syndromes and conditions, afflicts 1% of the population worldwide. Approximately one-third of patients do not respond to anti-seizure medications but may attain seizure freedom following brain surgery. However, a significant proportion of patients do not qualify for brain surgery and must seek other treatment options. Cumulating evidence in epilepsy research has underscored the importance of brain networks, as opposed to single brain regions, in understanding the causes and consequences of epilepsy. The adoption of a network perspective is therefore seen as critical to generate effective treatments and reduce cases of surgical failure. Yet, the exact location of these networks is unknown. My proposed project will use cutting-edge brain imaging and data science techniques to identify the human brain networks involved in two commonly occurring epilepsies: focal epilepsy (patients with a focal brain lesion causing seizures) and generalized epilepsy (patients without a focal brain lesion). For each patient in each epilepsy syndrome, I will identify areas of brain atrophy and test whether they map to a common brain network. The imaging data will be further used to understand the relationship between epilepsy brain networks and important clinical variables, such as seizure type, drug refractoriness, and duration of illness. In a final integrative approach, I will assess whether the identified networks are specific to focal or generalized epilepsy by comparing them to each other, but also to other known disease networks. Ultimately, my research will serve as a starting point for clinical trials aiming to alter brain activity in the epilepsy networks identified herein, and thus, provide seizure relief for thousands, if not millions, of individuals with epilepsy seeking alternative, yet effective, treatment options.