Sunday, October 15, 2023

3:00 – 5:00 PM               Symposium Check-In/Registration

5:00 – 8:30 PM               Opening Reception & Dinner

Welcome Address
Karen S. Wilcox, PhD
Professor & Chair of Pharmacology & Toxicology
ADD Program Director
University of Utah

Keynote Address I
Scott Baraban, PhD
Professor & William K. Bowes Jr. Endowed Chair in Neuroscience Research
University of California, San Francisco
Adjunct Professor, Hellen Wills Neuroscience Institute
University of California, Berkeley
Translational Epilepsy Research at the Cutting Edge: A Tale of Fish, Mice, Pigs and Sea Lions

Monday, October 16, 2023 

8:30 – 9:00 AM Keynote Address II
Amy Brooks-Kayal, MD
Professor & Chair of Department of Neurology
Presidential Chair of Neurology
University of California Davis School of Medicine
Unmet Clinical Needs for People with Epilepsy: How Can Epilepsy Research Help Fill the Gaps?

9:00 – 10:30 AM             Session 1: Network Approaches

*Ivan Soltesz, PhD
Professor
Stanford University
Organization and Control of Hippocampal Circuits in Epilepsy

Christopher Gregg, PhD
Associate Professor of Neurobiology & Human Genetics
University of Utah, School of Medicine
Behavioral Cartography

Joanna Mattis, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neurology
University of Michigan, Department of Neurology & Michigan Neuroscience Institute
Shining Light on Epilepsy: Cortico-Hippocampal Circuit Dysfunction in a Mouse Model of Dravet Syndrome

Justin Botterill, PhD
Assistant Professor of Anatomy, Physiology & Pharmacology
University of Saskatchewan, College of Medicine
Dentate Gyrus Circuits in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

10:30 – 11:00 AM           Coffee Break

11:00 – 12:30 PM           Session 2: Glia & Metabolism

*Judy Liu, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology & Biochemistry
Brown University
Mechanisms in a Rare Genetic Infantile Epilepsy caused by Mutations in the Plasma Membrane Citrate Transporter, SLC13A5

Juliet Knowles, PhD
Assistant Professor of Pediatric Neurology and Epilepsy
Stanford University, School of Medicine
Maladaptive Myelination Promotes Thalamocortical Hypersynchrony in Generalized Epilepsy

Tony Umpierre, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Mayo Clinic, Neurology Department
Microglial Calcium Signaling in the Context of Epileptogenesis

Tim Simeone, PhD
Program Director of Pharmacology & Neuroscience
Associate Professor
Creighton University
Contributions of Mitochondria to Cognitive Impairment Comorbid with Epilepsy

12:30 – 2:00 PM              Lunch (provided) & Poster Session (Sponsor Posters Encouraged)

2:00 – 3:30 PM                Session 3: Novel Tools & Approaches

*Robert Hunt, PhD
Associate Professor of Anatomy & Neurobiology
University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine
Advances in Stem Cell Technologies for Epilepsy

Barna Dudok, PhD
McNair Scholar & Assistant Professor of Neurology & Neuroscience
Baylor College of Medicine
Seizures Modulate Inhibitory Interneuron Activity in Two Basket Cell Types in Opposite Directions

Jiannis Taxidis, PhD
Scientist/Assistant Professor of Physiology
University of Toronto, The Hospital for Sick Children
Fast-Rate Voltage Imaging In Vivo Reveals Spiking & Subthreshold Dynamics of Hippocampal Interneurons During Memory Linking

Paige Whyte-Fagundes, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
University of California, San Francisco
Computational Phenotyping of Seizure Behaviors in Zebrafish

3:30 – 4:00 PM                Coffee Break

4:00 – 5:00 PM                Junior Investigator Career Panel

*Manisha Patel, PhD
Professor & Associate Dean of Research & Graduate Studies
University of Colorado, Skaggs School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences

Tracy Dixon-Salazar, PhD
Executive Director
Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome (LGS) Foundation

Vicky Whittemore, PhD
Program Director
NIH NINDS Division of Neuroscience

Koji Takahashi, PhD
Senior Director, Global Medical Affairs
Cerevel Therapeutics

Tuesday, October 17, 2023 

8:30 – 10:00 AM             Session 4: Genetic Epilepsy Models

*Jenny Hsieh, PhD
Professor & Chair of Neuroscience, Developmental & Regenerative Biology
University of Texas at San Antonio, College of Sciences
Stem Cell Approaches to Understanding Acquired & Genetic Epilepsies

Philip H. Iffland II, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neurology
University of Maryland, School of Medicine
Defining Disease Mechanisms in a Mouse Model of Focal Cortical Dysplasia

Vanesa Nieto-Estevez, PhD
Assistant Professor of Research
University of Texas at San Antonio, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental & Regenerative Biology (NDRB)
Modeling ARX-Associated Childhood Epilepsies using Human Neural Organoids

Ranmal Samarasinghe, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neurology
University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine, Department of Neurology
Modeling Human Neural Circuit Development & Dysfunction in Genetic Epilepsy with Brain Assembloids

10:00 – 10:30 AM           Coffee Break

10:30 – 11:45 AM           Session 5: Neuromodulation

*Jennifer Gelinas, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neurology
Columbia University, Irving Medical Center
Modulating Pathological Hippocampal-Cortical Dynamics in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Martha Streng, PhD
Incoming Assistant Professor
University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Department of Neuroscience
Interactions Between the Cerebellum & Hippocampus in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

John Rolston, MD, PhD
Neurosurgeon
Harvard Medical School, Brigham & Women’s Hospital
Neural Engineering for Epilepsy: Advances in Network Neuromodulation

11:45 – 1:30 PM              Lunch (provided)

1:30 – 3:00 PM                Session 6: Epilepsy Comorbidities

*Helen Scharfman, PhD
Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Neuroscience and Physiology & Psychiatry
New York University, Langone Health
Senior Research Scientist
Nathan S. Kline Institute of Psychiatric Research, Center for Dementia Research
Alzheimer’s Disease & Epilepsy: What the Mice are Telling Us

Colleen Carpenter, PhD
Assistant Professor of Biology
University of Richmond, Biology Department
Capitalizing on Zebrafish Behavioral Repertoire to Find Novel Drug Targets for Pediatric Epilepsies

Brielle Ferguson, PhD
Assistant Professor of Genetics & Neurology
Harvard University
Probing PFC Contributions to Cognitive Dysfunction in Epilepsy

Melissa Barker-Haliski, PhD
Research Associate Professor of Pharmacy
University of Washington, Department of Pharmacy
Can Old Animals Reveal New Targets? The Aging and Degenerating Brain as a New Precision Medicine Opportunity for Epilepsy

3:00 – 3:30 PM                Coffee Break

3:30 – 5:00                       Session 7: Therapy Discovery for a New Millennium

*Gabriele Lignani, PhD
Associate Professor
University College, London, Queen Square Institute of Neurology
Gene Therapy for Epilepsy

Michael Cima, PhD
Professor
Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT
Neural Drug-Delivery System to Treat Refractory Epilepsy

Andrew Tidball, PhD
Research Assistant Professor of Neurology
University of Michigan Medical School, Department of Neurology
Stem Cell Models of Epilepsy Genetics & Treatment

Wenxi Yu, PhD
Research Investigator
University of Michigan School of Medicine, Department of Human Genetics
Allele-Specific Knockout of a Gain-of-Function Variant of SCN8A by CRISPR-Cas9

Note: * indicates an Anchor Speaker