SUDEP Biomarkers: How Close Are We?

Finding one or more SUDEP biomarkers remains an urgent need. These biomarkers could identify individuals with an increased risk of SUDEP. This is a critical step to accurately counsel patients and families and to assess interventions to prevent SUDEP. Where are we in this quest? Join leading SUDEP researcher, Orrin Devinsky, as he moderates a presentation and discussion with Drs. Matthias Koepp and Shobi Sivathamboo on their cutting edge work with Imaging and ECG/PGES biomarkers.

Dr. Orrin Devinsky is a Professor of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine. His epilepsy research includes sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), cannabinoids, phenome-genome correlations, autism, neural markers and imaging, therapeutic electrical stimulation, quality-of-life, cognitive and behavioral issues, and surgical therapy. He is the principal investigator for the North American SUDEP Registry and on the Executive Committee of the SUDEP Institute.

Dr. Matthias Koepp is a Professor of Neurology at the UCL Institute of Neurology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Epilepsy, and Consultant Neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London, UK. He qualified from the Free University Berlin in 1991, after training with Dieter Janz, his longtime mentor. In 1993 he moved to London to pursue further training in Neurology and to complete his Ph.D. with a particular focus on “Neuroimaging in Epilepsy” at the Institute of Neurology. His research has a particular focus on the structural and functional causes and consequences of epilepsy. He currently leads a research program into dementia in epilepsy. In his clinical role, he looks predominantly after people with refractory epilepsy and psychiatric co-morbidities.

Dr. Shobi Sivathamboo is an academic researcher at Monash University and Alfred Hospital. She leads the SUDEP research group at Monash University and is internationally recognized for her experience in SUDEP, as well as autonomic, cardiac, and respiratory function in epilepsy. She is a Principal Investigator for the largest global efforts to study biomarkers and mechanisms for SUDEP. She leads several wearable studies for seizure detection and prediction, with the goal of preventing SUDEP. She is also a member of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) SUDEP Task Force.