2012/2013 Junior Investigator Award Recipients

AES, in collaboration with the Epilepsy Foundation, the Lennox & Lombroso Trust, the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Foundation, Sunovion and Eisai, Inc. awarded the following research and training awards for the 2012/2013 academic year:

Pre-Doctoral Fellowships

  • Christopher Dengler
    University of Pennsylvania
    "Circuit Contributions of Adult and Seizure-Induced Neurogenesis"
  • Sarah Guadiana
    University of Florida
    "Contribution of Cilia Defects to Neuronal Activity in Developing Cortex"
  • Larisa Kruger
    University of Michigan
    "Physiological Consequence of an Epilepsy Mutation in the VGSC Beta 1 Subunit"
  • Nealen Laxpati
    Emory University
    "Optogenetic Medial Septal Neuromodulation to Control Hippocampal Seizures"
  • Emma Soldner
    University of Minnesota
    "Seizures Beget Seizures: Role of Blood-brain Barrier Leakage in Epilepsy"
  • Xinjun Wang
    University of Wyoming
    "The Role of BNDF in the Maturation of Axo-axonal Synapses"
  • Baouyen Tran
    Baylor College of Medicine
    "Characterizing KCNQ2 Mutations in Severe Neonatal Encephalopathy"

Post-Doctoral Fellowships

  • Sarah Brandt, Ph.D.
    Washington University
    "Defining ECoG Resting State Networks Associated with Focal Epilepsy"
  • Jeff Boychuk, M.D.
    University of Kentucky
    "A Role for Interleukin-6 in Epileptogenesis"
  • Matthew Weston, Ph.D.
    Baylor College of Medicine
    "mTOR, Epilepsy and Synaptic Transmission"
  • David Auerbach, Ph.D. (funded with Eisai, Inc.)
    University of Michigan
    "Sudden Cardiac Death in a Severe From of Childhood Epilepsy: Mice and Men"
  • Zhihong Chen, Ph.D. (funded with Sunovion)
    Cleveland Clinic Foundation
    "The Pathogenic Role fo Activated Microglia in Epilepsy"
  • Geogina MacKenzie, Ph.D.
    Tufts University
    "Investigating the Mechanism of Stress Induced Seizure Susceptibility"
  • Lei Sun, Ph.D.
    University of California, Irvine
    "Screening for Seizure Modifiers in a Drosophila Knock-in Model of SMEI"

Susan Spencer Clinical Research Training

  • Anli Liu, M.D., M.A.
    Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School

Lennox & Lombroso Predoctoral Fellowship

  • Michael Hester
    Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
    "mTOR regulation of hippocampal granule cell pathology in epilepsy"