Finding the brain circuit behind focal epilepsy using lesions and deep brain stimulation
Official title: Using Brain Lesions and Deep Brain Stimulation to Identify an Epilepsy Circuit
Funded at Brigham and Women's Hospital · NIH-11307081 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project uses patterns of brain injury and responses to deep brain stimulation to find the brain circuit that causes and treats focal epilepsy in people with lesions from stroke, trauma, or tumors.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Brigham and Women's Hospital NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Boston, United States) |
| Project start | July 1, 2022 |
| Project end | March 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $702,299 |
| NIH project number | 5R01NS127892-05 |
| Project ID | NIH-11307081 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are people with focal epilepsy related to a visible brain lesion (for example from stroke, trauma, or tumor) and patients who have undergone or are candidates for deep brain stimulation for seizures.
✕Less likely to help
People with generalized epilepsy without a focal lesion or those without imaging and DBS location data are unlikely to benefit directly from this project.
What this research studies
If you have focal epilepsy linked to a brain lesion or have had deep brain stimulation, researchers will combine the location of your lesion or stimulation site with a standard map of human brain connections to find distant brain regions tied to seizures. They will apply a normative connectome so individual patient scans of connectivity are not required, allowing them to study many existing clinical cases. By comparing circuits connected to lesions that cause epilepsy with circuits connected to DBS sites that reduce seizures, the team hopes to spot shared nodes that point to better treatment targets. The work builds on similar mapping methods used in Parkinson's disease, memory disorders, and depression and uses imaging and clinical data from patients and clinical centers.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could point doctors to better brain targets for stimulation and help predict which patients with brain lesions are at higher risk for epilepsy or more likely to benefit from DBS.
How similar studies have gone: Related lesion-network and DBS-mapping approaches have successfully identified circuits in Parkinsonism, amnesia, and depression, and early stroke data suggest this method can reveal common seizure-related networks, though applying it to epilepsy treatment remains relatively new.
Where this research is happening
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Brigham and Women's Hospital
Boston, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Fox, Michael D — Brigham and Women's Hospital
- Study coordinator: Fox, Michael D
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
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Ventral pallidum brain stimulation for epilepsy
A brain stimulation therapy in people with epilepsy whose seizures aren’t controlled by medicines or surgery is being studied to see if it can help achieve seizure freedom.
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Targeted deep brain stimulation to reduce infantile epilepsy spasms
This project will see if tiny electrical pulses delivered to specific deep brain areas can reduce severe infantile spasms, first in animal models to help design future treatments for babies.
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Identifying brain circuits involved in epilepsy using brain lesions and stimulation techniques
This study is looking at how brain injuries from things like strokes can cause focal epilepsy and whether a treatment called deep brain stimulation can help, aiming to understand why it works for some people but not others, so we can find better ways to treat epilepsy in the future.
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Personalized deep brain stimulation for epilepsy treatment
This study is looking to help people with epilepsy who don't find relief from regular medications by using a special treatment that targets specific areas of their brain, making it more personalized and effective just for them.
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Scaling Up Task-Shifted Epilepsy Care for Children in Africa
A study to help children with epilepsy in Africa get diagnosed and receive seizure care through trained community health workers.
-
Closed-loop control of interneuron timing to influence seizures and memory in epilepsy
A study tests a brain-quieting system that uses light to precisely time certain brain cells in epilepsy-prone mice to see if this can lessen seizures and improve memory.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.