Research

faces is involved in intensive research efforts that will minimize the effects of and, one day, find a cure for epilepsy.  There are many new and exciting projects underway at the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center that will introduce new equipment, monitoring devices and medications. Please visit our list of current research projects below for more information. 

The Epilepsy Phenome/Genome Project (EPGP) 

The EPGP is a new initiative to understand the genetic  causes of epilepsy by creating a database of thousands of enrolled patients for extensive data analysis.

Cognitive Neurophysiology Research Group

Chronic epilepsy can have profound influences on the cognitive  performance of patients across their life-span. The Cognitive Neurophysiology Research Group at the NYU Comprehensive Epilepsy Center studies sensation and cognition in the human brain in health and disease using novel and sophisticated neuro imaging techniques. The goal of the research group is to investigate how the healthy brain processes sensory and cognitive information, such as language, memory and decision-making amongst others, in order to understand what happens when these functions break down in patients with epilepsy. The group, consisting of basic scientists and clinical practitioners, has a special emphasis on translational research: moving state-of-the-art brain imaging techniques from the laboratory into the clinical practice, and at the same time using the clinical environment to generate hypotheses about brain function that can be tested in the laboratory.

Hybrid Neuroprosthesis (HNP)
The NYU Epilepsy Center continues to develop the HNP device in parallel using animal and human studies. This implantable device is designed to treat seizures by detecting them and delivering drugs into the epileptic tissue. Our experiments in rats show that we can terminate strong seizures by delivering small amounts of antiepileptic drugs onto the brain's surface. The device consists of several components including a mini-pump, detection software and special delivery catheters. We have completed a new mini-pump prototype, and implanted the device externally in Primates with good results. Human "proof of concept" studies in the operating room have shown that drug delivery into the brain can stop abnormal epileptic activity. This project could impact the therapy for epilepsy and disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.

Inflammation Project
It has long been known that some inflammatory diseases can affect that brain and cause seizures. There is now increasing evidence that inflammation in the central nervous system may be involved in both creating seizures foci (the process of epileptogenesis) as well as maintaining them over time, even in patients without underlying inflammatory disease. This evidence derives from both animal models and from examining tissue removed from seizure foci in patients undergoing epilepsy surgery. For example, in animal models in which a seizure focus has been created, there is an increase in inflammatory mediators such as cytokines, and specifically a cytokine called IL 1B. Also, around an area where a seizure focus has developed, inflammatory cells such as reactive microglia can accumulate. Inflammation can precede the development of seizures, and also occurs after each seizure. Now there is evidence from animal models of epilepsy that this type of inflammatory mediators, and specifically IL 1B, can actually calm the inflammation, and seems to reduce or eliminate seizures in some animal models. At the NYU Epilepsy Center, we have begun to explore whether similar types of inflammation occur in human seizure foci. There is already good evidence for inflammation in some types of epilepsy, most notably temporal lobe epilepsy and epilepsy associated with Tuberous Sclerosis. Inflammatory cells are seen close to the seizure onset zone in tissue resected from patients with uncontrolled seizures, and diminishes in areas not involved in seizure generation.

Tuberous Sclerosis Project
Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) is a genetic disorder that affects about 1 in every 6,000 individuals with varying degrees of severity. It causes benign tumors to form in multiple organs, such as the brain, but also in other vital organs, including the kidneys, heart, eyes, lungs and skin, which can develop facial tumors. The most devastating symptom in children with TSC is epilepsy, frequently developing within the first year of life, and affecting 9 out of 10 patients, with about 3 of these having intractable epilepsy seizures that fail to respond to multiple medications.

To learn more information about our research efforts, visit NYU's Comprehensive Epilepsy Center's research page.

Images used with kind permission from the Cognitive Neurophysiology Research Group.