Research Project

The title of the project is “Biomarkers for the ictogenesis of Absence seizures – The role of cortical 5-9Hz oscillations”, under the direct supervision of Dr. Annika Lüttjohann. Absence seizures are the clinical manifestations of absence epilepsy, a neurological disorder. They are characterized by spontaneous, abrupt and sudden lapses of consciousness, which can occur up to several hundred times per day. In patient electroencephalograms, absence seizures are characterized by the appearance of bilaterally generalized “spike and wave discharges” (SWDs). SWDs show a stereotypic and repetitive electroencephalographic pattern, consisting of a sharp, negative spike followed by a slow, decreasing wave.

The common understanding of SWD generation assumes that there is a cortical focus (presumably the somatosensory cortex S1), which is involved in an interplay with thalamic nuclei in order to produce and maintain the epileptic episode, but the details of this interplay are still elusive. Interestingly, Dr. Lüttjohann’s previous research showed that the spike and the wave are independent components, with different areas of origin and transmission pathways, yet they come together in a timely manner. Therefore, the current project aims at 1) identifying whether there is a specific thalamic nucleus responsible for the spike generalization across the brain, 2) investigating the source and possible pathways for the wave generalization, and, finally, 3) improving a previously built algorithm for online prediction of

PhD Committee

Prof. Dr. Thomas Budde

Prof. Dr. Thomas Seidenbecher

Prof. Dr. Joachim Kurtz

CV

*1994 Athens, Greece

2012–2017 studies in Biology at the University of Athens (BSc)

2018–2020 studies in Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Maastricht (MSc)

2022 Beginning of PhD research project, "Biomarkers for the ictogenesis of Absence seizures - The role of corical 5-9Hz oscillations”, Universitätsklinikum Münster