Faculty Research

Lawrence Hudson MD, CM (hudslawr@umich.edu)
Clinical Assistant Professor

Dr. Hudson's research is concerned with partial epilepsy, and the understanding of brain pathology that may be both a product and underlying cause of medically intractable epilepsy. Ongoing work done in collaboration with Dr. Jack Parent is designed to examine critical structures within the human medial temporal lobe, removed during surgery for medically intractable seizures, for evidence of neurogenesis. If demonstrated in adult patients with temporal lobe epilepsy, such generation of functional neurons from precursor cells in the dentate gyrus might suggest a mechanism for the development of medically intractable seizures.

Further work is planned to examine memory deficits in patients with focal and generalized seizures. Using functional imaging methods, we hope to demonstrate that patients with temporal lobe seizures exhibit functional reorganization of memory consolidation and retrieval, and that the extent and topography of this reorganization is dependent on the natural history of the patient's epileptic syndrome. This information should permit the planning of safer and more effective resective procedures for patients with seizures that are resistant to medical therapy.