Title

“Toward Non-Local Networks”

Abstract:

While SEEG explores large scale mostly cortical networks, pre-clinical studies have typically focused on local networks. To understand the mechanisms of interaction between sleep-wake phenomena and epilepsy, consideration of large-scale brain networks is necessary, along with the use of models. The importance of considering subcortical and larger networks in epilepsy and neurobiology will be discussed through the lens of sleep-wake control networks – the principal controllers of forebrain rhythms and excitability. A work flow for translational examination of human clinical phenomena is discussed that involves pre-clinical models and optical techniques, then touching on the potential use of in silico models. The overall objective of the talk is to highlight the importance of translational approaches and the consideration of large scale networks.

Short Biography

Dr. Nigel Pedersen is an Associate Professor and Vice Chair of Research in Neurology at the University of California Davis. Dr. Pedersen studied cognitive science before completing medical studies at the University of Sydney, before undertaking research and clinical training at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Epilepsy and Clinical Neurophysiology Fellowships at Massachusetts General Hospital. He was on faculty at BIDMC before being recruited to the epilepsy program at Emory University, where he was also appointed in Biomedical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. At Emory, his clinical practice focused on Epilepsy Surgery and stereo-electroencephalography. His research, in human subjects and mouse models, focuses on large-scale circuits on the overlap between cognition, sleep-wake, and epilepsy.  Dr. Pedersen is also an Assistant Editor (Epilepsy and Sleep) for Annals of Neurology.