Ivan Soltesz
Stanford University, CA·Neuroscience
Epilepsy affects about 65 million people worldwide. Many patients have seizures that existing drugs cannot control, and they face a higher risk of death.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Medicine & Clinical Research
Biomedical Engineering
- Topics
epilepsy
Dravet syndrome
seizures
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Nov 2029
What they work on
- Identify non-invasive behavioral biomarkers that predict chronic seizures and death, using MoSeq AI analysis of 3D video in mouse models of temporal lobe epilepsy and Dravet syndrome.
- Examine the neuronal activity underlying altered patterns of MoSeq behavioral modules in chronically epileptic mice recorded in vivo.
- Adapt MoSeq for 24/7 monitoring of mice in realistic social settings, and test focused ultrasound as a closed-loop seizure treatment triggered by predictive behaviors.
- Test whether activity-dependent endocannabinoid signaling in the hippocampus is persistently altered in chronic temporal lobe epilepsy, using new lipid sensors, calcium imaging and electrophysiology in behaving mice.
- Target CB1-expressing GABA-releasing inhibitory neurons with non-invasive closed-loop interventions to control chronic seizures and improve spatial information processing in epileptic mice.
More about the research
Researchers lack reliable ways to predict which brains will become epileptic after injury, or when a seizure is coming. They also need gentler, non-invasive ways to stop seizures. This work tackles these problems in mouse models from two directions: AI-based reading of behavior, and the brain's own cannabinoid signaling.
Why it matters
Many children and adults with epilepsy, including those with temporal lobe epilepsy and Dravet syndrome, still have seizures despite treatment. Automated, video-based markers could help preclinical researchers predict who develops epilepsy and who is at risk of death, which could speed testing of new therapies. Understanding the brain's own cannabinoid signaling may guide cannabinoid-based and non-invasive closed-loop treatments for drug-resistant seizures.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Barna Dudok
Baylor College of Medicine, TX·Neuroscience·Early-career
Test whether CCK and PV basket cells, two types of inhibitory neurons, are active in different brain states in a kainate mouse model of temporal lobe epilepsy, using two-photon calcium imaging with hippocampal field recordings.
Martha Streng
University of Minnesota, MN·Neuroscience·Early-career
Use mesoscale calcium imaging of the cerebellar cortex in mice to determine how chronic, spontaneous seizures from the hippocampus alter cerebellar activity.
Ana Beatriz De Paula E Silva
University of Utah, UT·Neuroscience·Early-career
Track when TREM1, a receptor that amplifies inflammation, appears on brain-infiltrating macrophages in TMEV-infected mice, and test whether genetic or drug blocking of TREM1 reduces acute seizures measured by video-EEG.
The school
Stanford University: 87 labs on PI Pages, $1.6B a year on research, 739 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.