Project Summary
We are requesting NINDS support for a Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Mechanisms of Epilepsy
and Neuronal Synchronization and Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) for young investigators to be held
August 17-23, 2024 at the Mount Snow Resort in West Dover, Vt. This will be the ninth Epilepsy Gordon
Research Conference, and the third Epilepsy Gordon Research Seminar. The overall aim of this GRC is to
bring together established and early career researchers, students, and postdoctoral fellows for 5 days in an
intensive, interactive environment to present and discuss state-of-the-art, unpublished findings related to basic
mechanisms of epilepsy, current translational studies and synchronization of neuronal activity in cerebral
networks. The conference is designed to involve extensive discussion, and the environment is specifically
geared towards fostering interactions between graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and established
researchers, and to facilitate intense in-depth discussions and generate collaborations between investigators
in the interest of furthering the field. The GRS, a 2-day conference which precedes the GRC at the same site,
provides additional opportunities for students and postdoctoral fellows to present their work and engage in
intensive scientific and career mentoring with established investigators in the field. Another critical goal of this
GRC and its associated GRS is to increase the representation of women, racial/ethnic minorities, persons
with disabilities, and other individuals who have been traditionally underrepresented in the epilepsy research
workforce by engaging them as attendees and assuring that they are well represented as speakers and
discussion leaders at both the GRC and GRS.
The specific theme of this GRC is “Multiscale Dynamics in the Emergence of Epilepsies”, and the GRS
program theme will be “Transformations in Epilepsy”, both focusing on how basic science discoveries
regarding the complex mechanisms that underlie the abnormal, synchronous, electrical discharges in
hyperexcitable neuronal networks during seizures can be effectively utilized to develop new therapies for the
70 million people worldwide suffering with epilepsy. The conference will bring together geneticists, molecular
biologists, developmental neuroscientists, immunologists, electrophysiologists, clinician-scientists and
computational neuroscientists working on the full spectrum of epilepsy research from studies of basic
mechanisms through preclinical and human research. Our goals are to disseminate the latest scientific
advances, to foster productive new insights and collaborations, to stimulate an interest in epilepsy research
among young investigators and to increase the diversity of the epilepsy research workforce, with the ultimate
goal of accelerating the delivery of desperately needed new therapies to people with epilepsy.