Clinical translation

We are investigating changes in the brain associated with different epilepsy phenotypes using various neuroimaging techniques.

These techniques include magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional MRI (fMRI), diffusion MRI, Positron Emission Tomography (PET), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and simultaneous electroencephalography (EEG) + fMRI.

We apply our research findings together with current best practice clinical knowledge to improve clinical outcomes for individual patients, in collaboration with the Austin Hospital’s Comprehensive Epilepsy Program (CEP).

Research team

Supervisor

Headshot_Graeme Jackson

Professor Graeme Jackson
MBBS, PhD

Member

Headshot_David Vaughn

Dr David Vaughan
PhD

Research group

Collaborators

  • Dr Saul Mullen
  • Dr Patrick Carney

Publications

Sethi, M., Pedersen, M., Jackson, G.D., 2016. Polymicrogyric Cortex may Predispose to Seizures via Abnormal Network Topology: An fMRI Connectomics Study. Epilepsia 57, e64–e68. doi:10.1111/epi.13304

Newham, B.J.C., Curwood, E.K., Jackson, G.D., Archer, J.S., 2016. Pontine and cerebral atrophy in Lennox–Gastaut syndrome. Epilepsy Research 120, 98–103. doi:10.1016/j.eplepsyres.2015.12.005

Warren, A.E.L., Abbott, D.F., Vaughan, D.N., Jackson, G.D., Archer, J.S., 2016. Abnormal cognitive network interactions in Lennox-Gastaut syndrome: A potential mechanism of epileptic encephalopathy. Epilepsia 57, 812–822. doi:10.1111/epi.13342

Omidvarnia, A., Pedersen, M., Walz, J.M., Vaughan, D.N., Abbott, D.F., Jackson, G.D., 2016. Dynamic regional phase synchrony (DRePS). Hum. Brain Mapp. 37, 1970–1985. doi:10.1002/hbm.23151

Harvey, A.S., Mandelstam, S.A., Maixner, W.J., Leventer, R.J., Semmelroch, M., MacGregor, D., Kalnins, R.M., Perchyonok, Y., Fitt, G.J., Barton, S., Kean, M.J., Fabinyi, G.C.A., Jackson, G.D., 2015. The surgically remediable syndrome of epilepsy associated with bottom-of-sulcus dysplasia. Neurology 84, 2021–2028. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000001591

Pedersen, M., Curwood, E.K., Vaughan, D.N., Omidvarnia, A.H., Jackson, G.D., 2015. Abnormal Brain Areas Common to the Focal Epilepsies: Multivariate Pattern Analysis of fMRI. Brain Connectivity 6, 208–215. doi:10.1089/brain.2015.0367

Raffelt, D.A., Smith, R.E., Ridgway, G.R., Tournier, J.-D., Vaughan, D.N., Rose, S., Henderson, R., Connelly, A., 2015. Connectivity-based fixel enhancement: Whole-brain statistical analysis of diffusion MRI measures in the presence of crossing fibres. NeuroImage 117, 40–55. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.05.039

Curwood, E.K., Pedersen, M., Carney, P.W., Berg, A.T., Abbott, D.F., Jackson, G.D., 2015. Abnormal cortical thickness connectivity persists in childhood absence epilepsy. Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology 2, 456–464. doi:10.1002/acn3.178

Vaughan, D.N., Jackson, G.D., 2014. The Piriform Cortex and Human Focal Epilepsy. Frontiers in Neurology 5. doi:10.3389/fneur.2014.00259

Carney, P.W., Jackson, G.D., 2014. Insights into the Mechanisms of Absence Seizure Generation Provided by EEG with Functional MRI. Frontiers in Neurology 5. doi:10.3389/fneur.2014.00162

Carney, P.W., Harvey, A.S., Berkovic, S.F., Jackson, G.D., Scheffer, I.E., 2013. Siblings with refractory occipital epilepsy showing localized network activity on EEG-fMRI. Epilepsia 54, e28–e32. doi:10.1111/epi.12076

Carney, P.W., Masterton, R.A.J., Gill, D., Jackson, G.D., 2013. Nodular heterotopia and absence seizures: fMRI evidence that they may be connected. Epilepsy Research 106, 451–455. doi:10.1016/j.eplepsyres.2013.07.005

Masterton, R.A.J., Carney, P.W., Abbott, D.F., Jackson, G.D., 2013. Absence epilepsy subnetworks revealed by event-related independent components analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging. Epilepsia 54, 801–808. doi:10.1111/epi.12163

Masterton, R.A., Carney, P.W., Jackson, G.D., 2012. Cortical and thalamic resting-state functional connectivity is altered in childhood absence epilepsy. Epilepsy Research 99, 327–334. doi:10.1016/j.eplepsyres.2011.12.014

Carney, P.W., Masterton, R.A., Flanagan, D., Berkovic, S.F., Jackson, G.D., 2012. The frontal lobe in absence epilepsy: EEG-fMRI findings. Neurology 78, 1157–1165.

Carney, P.W., Masterton, R.A., Harvey, A.S., Scheffer, I.E., Berkovic, S.F., Jackson, G.D., 2010. The core network in absence epilepsy: differences in cortical and thalamic BOLD response. Neurology 75, 904–911.