Coulter Laboratory

Research in the Coulter Laboratory is directed towards establishing a better understanding of the basic mechanisms of epilepsy and epileptogenesis. This is centered on the overarching idea that only by better understanding the fundamental, underlying determinants driving seizure disorders can we learn to better treat, and someday cure, these devastating neurologic conditions.

Integrating diverse techniques enables us to cover sufficient parameter space to ensure that we capture all aspects of circuit dynamics with sufficient temporal resolution to resolve both action potentials and synaptic responses in neurons, and with sufficient spatial resolution to record responses in large populations of individually identified neurons and neuronal subcompartments, including cell somata and dendrites.

Comparing these measures of neuronal circuit behavior between control, models of epilepsy, and surgical specimens resected from patients with intractable epilepsy, affords us an unprecedented depth of understanding of both normal and pathological function of brain networks, critical in developing novel therapies for epilepsy treatment, prevention, and ultimately, cure.