Frederic Schaper

Honored to highlight our work @braincircuits.bsky.social @massgenbrigham.bsky.social Neuro Research Day. Thank you @shansiddiqi.bsky.social @fredschaper.bsky.social Sheena Baratano and Sam Snider for sharing your experience.

Massive, Herculanean work by @laurenahart.bsky.social and Garance Meyer to compile and integrate findings from DBS for epilepsy (20 targets!) including meta-analytical evidence for optimal stimulation sites for the two main targets (ANT & CM). Preprint out now 👇👇

🧠 ⚡️ Preprint alert ⚡️ 🧠

I️n the most comprehensive review of DBS in epilepsy, with 124 studies, 1,210 patients, and 20 anatomical targets we map where stimulation works best and why.

Deep Brain Stimulation for Epilepsy: Optimal Targeting and Clinical Outcomes
www.researchgate.net/publication/...

Very hard to say goodbye to these fantastic people.
I will miss you guys! @braincircuits.bsky.social!

🚨 🥁 Preprint alert:
The Deep Brain Stimulation Response Network in Parkinson’s Disease Operates in the High Beta Band
->> www.researchgate.net/publication/... <<--

How does early life adversity impact white matter brain connections and subsequent cognitive abilities?

Adversity was associated with lower white matter integrity and later difficulty with arithmetic & receptive language yet interpersonal resilience was protective.

www.pnas.org/doi/epub/10....

What brain damage tells us about creativity - ABC listen Scientists have long been aware of a paradox of neurodegenerative disease – that as the brain deteriorates, in some patients creativity flourishes. Researchers have used imaging techniques to map cre...

Was fun to do a podcast about our recent paper on creativity and brain disease with Dr Norman Swan @abcnewsbot.bsky.social @braincircuits.bsky.social @foxmdphd.bsky.social @harvardmed.bsky.social www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

Thanks so much Barbara! Looking forward to your arrival here :)

I’m always so happy to see research related to epilepsy in all its forms. I suffer from generalized epilepsy so I just wanted to say thank you. This kind of research and progress saved my life.

Hi thanks for your suggestion! Great point. Doing the analysis on one hemisphere did not change results and I agree it’s important to look into laterality when doing a lesion or coordinate analysis! ☺️

Thank you so much!

Epic thread!🧵 #Neurology #NeuroSky #Epilepsy #Neuroscience

Thanks!

An amazing read and what a concise thread !!

Thank you!!

This is amazing work!

Lesions causing epilepsy map to a brain circuit, but what about generalized epilepsy? Great new paper (and thread) by @fredschaper.bsky.social identifies this circuit with implications for #DBS. @braincircuits.bsky.social

New @braincircuits.bsky.social paper out at @naturecomms.bsky.social 👇👇

Fantastic new work by @fredschaper.bsky.social on mapping epilepsy onto brain networks! Congratulations Fred & team!

Thanks so much Andy! ☺️

Huge thank you to first author Gongjun Ji for leading this study, to @foxmdphd.bsky.social for his invaluable mentorship at @braincircuits.bsky.social, and all collaborators for their support and generous sharing of their data:

We then combined the networks of brain abnormalities in IGE with the CM DBS data and identified a convergent IGE network, which could represent a brain stimulation target to better control generalized seizures.

The thalamic peak in our IGE network even converged on the same MNI coordinate as a recently identified DBS sweet-spot for IGE, potentially suggesting an optimal DBS target based on connectivity of brain abnormalities in IGE.

We collected all published and unpublished IGE cases we could get our hands on (thank you collaborators!) and we found the leads nicely aligned with the peak in the IGE network. Patients had a median response rate of 90% (!), supporting the CM as an off label DBS target for generalized seizures.

a cartoon duck is standing in front of a large target ALT: a cartoon duck is standing in front of a large target

Digging deeper we found a thalamic peak of the IGE network in the centromedian nucleus of the thalamus, which is exactly the region where neurosurgeons place their DBS electrodes to treat generalized seizures!

My take: generalized seizures may 'hijack' (parts of) the SCAN resulting in the electroclinical expression of generalized seizures along intrinsic human brain networks leading to convulsions of the whole body or myoclonic jerks as well as loss of consciousness or absences.

YES! The IGE network beautifully aligned with the inter-effector regions and SCAN which is an evolutionary preserved integrated action and executive control system to coordinate gross movements, control muscle groups, posture, and internal physiology.

We saw an interleaved pattern over the motor cortex, which reminded us of
@ndosenbach.bsky.social 's inter-effector regions and somatocognitive action network (SCAN). Could the IGE network share connections with the SCAN?

a man in a suit and tie is making a face ALT: a man in a suit and tie is making a face

While it was encouraging to see the IGE network align with previous findings in IGE patients, something else quickly caught our eye...