Investigator, Asst Prof (M) Neurology, Mass General Research Institute

Assistant Professor of Neurology Harvard Medical School

B.S. Marquette University 2001

Ph.D. Boston University 2009

M.S. Marquette University 2003

brain networks; epilepsy; epileptogenesis; hippocampus; interneurons; microscopy fluorescence; multiphoton; neural networks; pediatric epilepsy; pyramidal cells; seizures

Our long-term research goal is the development of new approaches to the treatment of epilepsy based on a clearer understanding of the necessary steps in seizure initiation and propagation.

Our work on the spread of excitation in neural networks combines fluorescent imaging of network activity (cellular voltage imaging) with computerized analysis and modeling to understand how normal and abnormal signaling progresses through neural networks. We are using using graph theory-based analysis to identify neurons that are central to generation of epileptiform activity. In computational and experimental work, we have found evidence of "key cells" that facilitate reentrant or circular patterns of neural activity that resemble cardiac fibrillation and precede seizures. We are testing whether optogenetic manipulation of these key cells can alter the probability of seizures, serving as precision targets for anti-epileptic therapies. In parallel, we are using intravital (two-photon) imaging to test whether similar network changes occur in a large gyrencephalic brain undergoing epileptogenesis, evaluating the translatability of these findings to human epilepsy.