Kristin Gunnarsdottir, a PhD student in the lab of ICM associate director and associate professor of biomedical engineering, Sridevi Sarma, has been awarded a fellowship from The American Epilepsy Society for the 2018-2019 academic year for her research titled, “A Novel Tool for Localizing the Epileptogenic Zone.”

Gunnarsdottir, who is pursuing her PhD in biomedical engineering, is developing a computational tool for seizure localization and treatment in patients with medically refractory epilepsy (MRE). The tool will create precise and accurate maps of the seizure onset region from invasive EEG recordings in MRE patients by (i) providing a more dense brain coverage with estimated invasive EEG recordings, and (ii) using network modeling to reveal the onset region in the form of heat maps. Ultimately, these maps will guide multiple laser ablations of specific brain areas.