Collaborations

The epilepsy researchers of the UMC Utrecht Brain Center have standing collaborations with selected affiliated principal investigators in Utrecht and (inter)national institutes. The most relevant collaborative projects are listed below.

National collaborations uitklapper, klik om te openen

• Prof. Dr. ir. Michel van Putten, professor in Clinical Neurophysiology, Twente University and Medical Spectrum Twente; collaborator with our clinical neurophysiology group in several studies on EEG signal analysis.
• Prof. Dr. Kees Stam, VU University Amsterdam; co-investigator on several studies of brain network analysis in epilepsy.
• TeleEpilepsy Consortium: Kempenhaeghe, SEIN, Epilepsiefonds, Epilepsievereniging, Stichting Zie, Stichting Dravet, University of Technology Eindhoven, LivAssured, Pontes Medical: Development of a Nocturnal, In-home Seizure Detection and Alarming System.
• Applied Mathematics group Twente University (Dr. Hil Meijer, Prof. Stephan van Gils): Neural mass modeling of epileptic networks.
• Dutch Collaborative Epilepsy Surgery Program; ongoing clinical and scientific collaboration with epileptologists from the two Dutch epilepsy centers (SEIN and Kempenhaeghe) and Maastricht University Medical Center.
• Collaborative research program with SEIN: HFO studies, epilepsy surgery-related projects, epilepsy genetics and studies addressing the relation between stress, cortisol and EEG changes.
• The Dutch IGE Genetics Research Project (Nederlands IGE Genetica Onderzoek [NIGO]); a collaborative study with epileptologists from 19 Dutch medical centers in the Netherlands to establish a case cohort for genetic association studies.
• Prof. Dr. Eleonora Aronica, AMC/University of Amsterdam; co-investigator on NEF-funded project on clinicopathological correlates and neuroimaging of focal cortical dysplasia.
• GenE project: establishing a database of clinical parameters and collection of DNA for genetic studies of epilepsy. A collaboration between UMCU, SEIN and Kempenhaeghe. Principle investigators: Drs. Gerrit-Jan de Haan, Bianca Berghuis, MD, Dr. Bobby Koeleman, Dr. Jurgen Schelhaas, and Prof. Dr. Ley Sander, Prof. Dr. Dick Lindhout, Prof. Dr. Sanjay Sisodiya and Prof. Dr. Paul Boon.

International collaborations uitklapper, klik om te openen

• Collaborators in the FP7 'EPISTOP' project, led by Prof. Sergiusz Jozwiak, neuropediatrician, Warschau Poland. The Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) will consist of the WP leaders, including the UMC Utrecht for the prospective investigation of imaging characteristics of epileptogenesis in tuberous sclerosis complex.
• EuroEPINOMICS; a consortium of European clinicians, experimental biologists and bioinformaticians to study the genetics of epilepsies. The UMC Utrecht participates actively in two subprojects on IGE (PI: Prof. Dr. Holger Lerche, Tübingen Germany) and on rare severe epilepsy syndrome (PIs: Prof. Dr. Peter de Jonghe, Antwerp Belgium and Prof. Dr. med. Ingo Helbig, Kiel Germany).
• EpiMiR; this FP7 large-scale collaborative network aims to 1) elucidating the role of microRNAs in epilepsy, 2) discovering new biomarkers, and 3) designing new, miRNA-based therapies. The consortium is led by Prof. David Henshall (RSCI, Ireland). The UMC Utrecht is in charge of the WP covering functional studies of miRNAs in epilepsy.
• NEMO (NEonatal seizure using Medication Off-patent) consortium, EU-FP7 framework, initiated and led by Dr. Ronit Pressler, London United Kingdom.
• ENER; the European Network for Epilepsy Research, initiated and led by Prof. Philippe Ryvlin, Lyon France.
• Epilepsy Center, University Hospital Freiburg; Prof. Dr. A. Schulze-Bonhage. His group collaborates with our neurophysiologists in the analysis of high-frequency oscillations (HFOs) in epilepsy.
• University Hospital Lyon; Prof. Dr. Philippe Ryvlin is a collaborative partner in the study on multimodal neuroimaging integration in defining the seizure onset zone in focal epilepsy, by combining neuroimaging results (MRI, PET, SPECT, EEG, MEG, EEG-fMRI) in one image.
• 'U-task'; the European Taskforce for Epilepsy Surgery in Children; a collaboration between 20 European center for paediatric epilepsy surgery, ensuring harmonization of treatment policies, exchange of expertise, and optimization of surgical patient care.
• 'E-PILEPSY', an EAH/EU-funded European pilot reference network for epilepsy surgery, with the aim to harmonize (pre)surgical practices and increase the quality of, and access to, epilepsy surgery across Europe.
• 'Epi-CARE' (submitted): an application for the EU-call for reference networks (with >20 other European centers) in the field of refractory and complex epilepsies.
• ILAE Consortium on Genetics of Complex Epilepsies; aims at fully understanding the inherited components of epilepsy. It currently holds the combined data of all genome-wide studies, published and unpublished to date in epilepsy and performs a meta-analysis.
• 'RESCUE ESES'; scientific collaboration in a joint effort, initiated the members of ENER, in particularly Prof. A. Arzimanoglou (Lyon) and Prof E. Perucca (Pavia), and coordinated by the UMC Utrecht, to study efficacy and safety of two treatment regimens in children with epileptic encephalopathy with ESES.
• 'Time to Stop'; scientific collaboration in a joint effort, coordinated by the UMC Utrecht, to study safety and cognitive benefits of early postoperative drug withdrawal in children. Affiliated steering committee members: Prof. Helen Cross (London) and Prof. Alexis Arzimanoglou (Lyon).
• EEG department Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, Mc Gill University, Montreal; Prof. Dr Jean Gotman, Dr. François Dubeau and Dr. Rina Zelmann. High frequency oscillations and epilepsy.