Seizures and arousal: interaction between epileptiform activity and central autonomic control in patients with chronic epilepsy

Grantholders

  • Dr Yoko Nagai

    Brighton and Sussex Medical School

Project summary

Yoko is a translational neuroscientist with interests in mind-body interaction and human consciousness. Her PhD at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, involved the investigation and development of a non-drug treatment (biofeedback) for patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. This pioneering work attracted funding for a clinical trial at the Institute of Neurology, UCL, where Yoko conducted six years of postdoctoral research. She also undertook several neuroimaging studies to investigate the neural mechanisms of biofeedback. She was appointed as a lecturer at the University of Essex in 2007 and held this position until 2010, leaving for family reasons (childcare). Yoko's current research investigates the central neural mechanisms of biofeedback treatment in reducing seizure frequencies in patients with epilepsy, using simultaneous EEG and fMRI.