About the Rare Epilepsies & Brain Disease Tissue Bank

Principal Investigator (PI)

Gary W. Mathern, M.D.
Professor

Dr. Alfonsina Q. Davies Endowed Chair in Honor of Paul Crandall, MD For Epilepsy Research, Professor of Neurosurgery, Director, Pediatric Epilepsy Surgery Program& Neurobiology of Epilepsy Research Laboratory, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Reed Neurological Research Center
710 Westwood Plaza, Room 2128, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1769
Telephone:  310-825-7961 | Fax:  310-206-8461 | E-mail:  [email protected].

"My academic career is devoted clinically to the neurosurgical treatment of children with medically refractory epilepsy, and from a research perspective in understanding seizure mechanisms from the tissue I remove.  Over the past decade, our group has developed new surgical procedures such as cerebral hemispherectomy for small children that are safer than traditional operations.  We have characterized the clinical presentation and phenotype of those with hemimegalencephaly, tuberous sclerosis complex, cortical dysplasia, Rasmussen encephalitis and other rare brain diseases of children linked with epilepsy.  We have also characterized the cellular electrophysiology and neuroanatomy of pediatric epilepsy surgery syndromes.  Furthermore, we have studied the outcomes after cerebral hemispherectomy and ways to intervene to improve developmental neuroplasticity in these children.  Our basic goal is to use newer research tools as a method in developing translational therapies and improve the care of these children."
 —Gary Mathern, M.D.

Research Team:

• Julia Chang, PhD
• Samuel Reyes, PhD