Dario Englot, M.D., Ph.D., has received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to support his research into better understanding brain connectivity disturbances in patients with focal epilepsy.
The grant supports work that entails using fMRI scans in patients whose seizures cannot be controlled by medication and who have undergone or will undergo brain surgeries. The scans will be done before and after surgeries. Scans will also be done on individuals without epilepsy for comparison.
“We used to think of epilepsy as a disorder where only a small part of the brain is abnormal — and that’s the part where the seizures come from — but that doesn’t explain why patients with epilepsy have cognitive problems, behavioral problems and problems with alertness,” Englot said. “What we have come to realize more recently is that actually areas throughout the entire brain are affected in patients with epilepsy.”
The first year of the award includes $83,468 in funding, with an estimated total award of $926,994, pending progress. Englot’s research mentors include Victoria Morgan, Ph.D.; John Gore, Ph.D.; and Peter Konrad, M.D., Ph.D.
Englot is a clinical instructor and epilepsy fellow in the Department of Neurological Surgery.
