In the media

Research Funding for Translational Epilepsy Research

Kjell Heuser
Kjell Heuser

The epilepsy research community at the Department of Neurology, Oslo University Hospital, has recently received research funding totaling approximately 8 million Norwegian kroner for translational epilepsy research. This includes a grant of about 6.6 million kroner from the South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority and a grant of about 1.4 million kroner from the Lundbeck Foundation.

The funds will be utilized in translational epilepsy research led by Senior Neurologist Kjell Heuser, in collaboration with the Letten Centre at the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences at the University of Oslo, led by Rune Enger. The project supported by Lundbeck involves collaboration with Prof. Christoph Beier at Odense University Hospital.

Disssertation November 21, 2023 New PhD from ERGO – candidate Monika Mochol

Monika Mochol, now working as a Senior Consultant in Department of neurology at Østfold hospital, Kalnes, defended her thesis “Interactions between epilepsy, antiseizure medication and the immune system” for the degree of PhD.

The committee consisted of professor Reetta Kälviäinen, University of Eastern Finland as first opponent, Senior Consultant Sverre Myren, NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology as second opponent, and professor Bjørnar Hassel, University of Oslo as third opponent. Chair of the defence was professor Morten Lossius, University of Oslo.

Principal supervisor was Senior Consultant Sigrid Svalheim, Oslo University Hospital with professor Erik Taubøll as co-supervisor.

To doktorgrader innen epilepsiforskning på to måneder ved Rikshospitalet

I løpet av kort tid har to kandidater tatt sine PhD-grader innen grunnleggende epilepsiforskning ved ulike avdelinger og Institutter tilknyttet epilepsiforskningsmiljøet ved Rikshospitalet. 

Cecilie Bugge Bakketun forsvarte 12.05.23 sin avhandling «Roles of Astrocytes in Extracellular Potassium and Glutamate Regulation» der hun har sett på hvordan astrocyttene, de viktige «støttecellene» i hjernen, viser seg å ha en svært viktig rolle for å regulere aktiviteten i hjernen og derved påvirke muligheten for utvikling av epilepsi.

Christoffer Hatlestad-Hall disputerte 30.06.23 på et arbeid om epilepsi, kognitive vansker og hjernenettverk. Den fulle tittelen for avhandlingen var: «Functional brain network organisation in focal epilepsy and comorbid cognitive impairment: Methodological and aetiological considerations”.

The UCB Epilepsy Research Award 2023 to Maren Ranhoff Hov and the PreCTRL study

Ingrid Hustad
Ingrid Hustad

During this year's “Neurodagene”, the UCB research award for epilepsy was divided between ERGO - the epilepsy research group and the Brain Program - prehospital neurology research group by project manager Maren Ranhoff Hov.

The research project "Prehospital convulsion management - PreCTRL" will be carried out by research fellow and MD Ingrid Hustad at the neurology department at OUS and the Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation in collaboration with, among others, supervisors Prof. Erik Taubøll and senior physician Morten Horn.

Erik Taubøll utnevnt til Oslo-ambassadør 28.03.22

Nyslått Oslo-ambassadør og professor Erik Taubøll, Nevrologisk avdeling, Institutt for klinisk medisin (Klinmed) ble hedret for sin innsats med å få European Academy of Neurology - EAN til byen i 2019 under en seremoni på Grand Hotel i Oslo.

Ny phd grad innen epilepsi – disputas 04.02.22

Toni Berger
Toni Berger

Lege og phd stipendiat Toni Berger ved Nevrologisk avdeling, Oslo Universitetssykehus – Rikshospitalet og Institutt for klinisk medisin ved Universitetet i Oslo skal forsvare sin avhandling: "A translational view on epileptogenesis" for graden phd fredag 4 februar.

Arbeidet utgår fra epilepsiforskningsgruppen i Nevrologisk avdeling, ERGO (Epilepsy Research Group of Oslo) og hovedveileder er overlege, phd Kjell Heuser. Prosjektet har vært finansiert fra EU gjennom Horizon2020, Marie Sklodowska Curie programmet. 

Disputas blir fredag 4 februar kl 12.15 (digital) https://www.med.uio.no/klinmed/english/research/news-and-events/events/disputations/2022/berger-toni.html

Prøveforelesning fredag 4 februar kl 10.15. Tittel: The role of microglia in neurodegenerative diseases. Therapeutic implications” (digital, Se Digital Trial Lecture)

Brain glial cells - a new target for future epilepsy treatment?

Kjell Heuser
Kjell Heuser
Senior consultant and Head of translational epilepsy research within the Epilepsy Research Group of Oslo (ERGO), Kjell Heuser, recently pointed to the glial cells as a possible new target for epilepsy treatment in a reader's letter to the Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association. This was also commented on by the Norwegian Brain Council. The authors behind the post are besides Kjell Heuser (pictured), Rune Enger, Toni Berger and Erik Taubøll.

New international project on the causes of epilepsy development after head injury in progress

From left: Gøril Storvig, Hild F. Sødal, Erik Taubøll and Eirik Helseth.
From left: Gøril Storvig, Hild F. Sødal, Erik Taubøll and Eirik Helseth.

The Epilepsy Research Group in Department of Neurology (ERGO - Epilepsy Research Group of Oslo) and the Department of Neurosurgery at Ullevål are now starting clinical studies of possible biomarkers for the development of epilepsy after head injuries. In the next round, it may be relevant to try out intervention treatment with medication.
The main study will be part of an international multi-center study we are now participating in and where Oslo could become one of the largest contributors. The project has received support from the CURE Epilepsy Foundation in the USA, which in turn has received USD 10 million from the US Department of Defense to study the mechanisms behind the development of post-traumatic epilepsy.

Kjell Heuser ansvarlig guest editor for e-bok om Glia og Epilepsi i Frontiers in Neurology

Glias rolle ved epilepsi har blitt stadig tydeligere og stadig flere tenker seg at glia kan representere et nytt angrepspunkt ikke bare for anfallsbehandling, men også for å stanse selve utviklingen av epilepsi – «kurere epilepsi». Dette var da også temaet på en av sesjonene under EAN kongressen i Oslo i 2019. Kjell Heuser er deretter bedt om å være guest editor for en e-bok i serien Frontiers in Neurology – epilepsy section, med tittelen «Glial Dysfunction in Epileptogenesis». Her har han fått med seg professorene Marco De Curtis (Italia) og Christian Steinhauser (Tyskland).

ERGO research presented at an open public meeting at Litteraturhuset

ERGO - Epilepsy Research Group of Oslo - presented their research at an open public meeting in September during the "Forskningsdagene 2020". Title of the meeting was: "Epilepsy - from basic research to modern clinical treatment".
Senior consultant, MD, PhD Kjell Heuser, discussed the role of glial cells in epilepsy. Thereafter, the PhD candidates Toni Berger, Cecilie Bugge Bakketun and Monika Mochol talked about epigentics in epilepsy (TB), how to use brain slices in the study of epilepsy (CBB) and the use of zebrafish in epilepsy research (MM) to understand basic mechanisms of epileptogenesis. 

New and important findings from the ERGO group: Glial cells play an important role in epilepsy

Kjetil Heuser (first author) and Rune Enger (last author)
Kjetil Heuser (first author) and Rune Enger (last author)

Scientitsts from the Epilepsy Research Group at the Nevrological Department, ERGO (Epilepsy Research Group of Oslo) have recently, in collaboration with the Letten Center at the University of Oslo, studied how the glia cells contribute actively and are crucial in epilepsy. They have demonstrate that the glial cells are activated prior to the neurons by seizures, which is completely new knowledge. The findings have been achieved through the combination of several completely new techniques that include high-resolution microscopy, the use of biosensors and advanced neurophysiology, and have recently been published in the journal "Cerebral Cortex".

The groundbreaking research on the role of glial cells in epilepsy has been thorougly presented in a popular science form in a feature article (in Norwegian) entitled "The forgotten cells of the brain - a new path into treatment of epilepsy" on the OUS blog "Ekspertsykehuset".