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Overview

Amrita is offering a fully funded Ph. D. Fellowship in Epilepsy Research. The research will take place at the Amrita Advanced Center for Epilepsy (AACE), Department of Neurology at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi.

About

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The Amrita Advanced Center for Epilepsy (AACE) was founded in February 2010, with the objective of upgrading the treatment of epilepsy within the state. Today the AACE caters to patients from all over India, the middle east, Africa, Asia minor and other southeast Asian countries. The center has also emerged as an advanced epilepsy teaching centre for training neurologists, neurosurgeons, psychologists and technicians in the field – providing a strategy to help contain this globally devastating illness.

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– Issued In Public Interest By Directorate Of Admissions And Academic Outreach

Center Details

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Salient Features
  • AACE has the largest epilepsy monitoring unit in the country.
  • AACE is equipped with High Density EEG (256 channel) system.
  • Have completed over 800 cases of epilepsy surgeries till date.
  • Amrita epilepsy center is the first in the country to develop stereo EEG program.
  • Our center is also the first in the continent to start Robotic Assisted Stereo EEG.
  • AACE has performed the largest number (more than 280 cases) of stereo EEGs evaluations in the country.
  • Our centre is also the pioneer in minimally invasive epilepsy surgery – radio frequency ablation and has performed the largest number of ablations in the country.
  • AACE also treats, medically, refractory epilepsy cases with deep brain stimulation.

The epilepsy center also features a research facility focused on developing engineering and computational methods to improve patient care.We are in search of a motivated student to join our research endeavors.

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Research @ AACE

Epilepsy, recognized as one of the most prevalent neurological disorders, affects over 10 million people in India. Among them, 70% successfully control their seizures with medication, but the remaining 30% are drug-resistant, making epilepsy surgery a recommended option. Localizing the epileptic foci, however, poses a significant challenge for most of these patients. This situation necessitates a comprehensive pre-surgical assessment and a detailed analysis of clinically obtained data. Approaching this problem from an engineering standpoint redefines it as an engineering challenge, offering a unique opportunity to substantially enhance/assist in clinical decision-making processes.

In recent years, our center has made significant advancements in epilepsy research and patient care. We have pioneered several innovative methods such as PASCOM (Aslam et al, 2022), a method instrumental in pinpointing epileptic foci by detecting areas of reduced metabolism in the brain. Additionally, we have developed the Epileptogenicity Rank (Parasuram et al, 2021), a tool for quantifying epileptogenicity in the brain. Our research also includes the creation of a Region-specific HFO rate database (Parasuram et al), which is a valuable resource for understanding HFO rates in different regions of the brain.

Moreover, we are utilizing Machine Learning and Graph Theory (Jose et al, 2023) for more accurately localizing epileptic foci, enhancing the precision of our diagnostic capabilities. Furthermore, our work in Multi Modal Image Integration stands out as a novel approach for better localization of epileptic foci, allowing for more targeted and effective treatments. These methods collectively represent a leap forward in our ability to localize, understand, and enhance/assist in the treatment of epilepsy more effectively.

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Selected Publication
  • Parasuram, S. Gopinath, A. Pillai, S. Diwakar and A. Kumar, Quantification of EpileptogenicNetworkFrom Stereo EEG Recordings Using Epileptogenicity Ranking Method, Front. Neurol., 03 November 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2021.738111
  • Jose B, Gopinath S, VijayanathaKurup A, Nair M, Pillai A, Kumar A, Parasuram H. Improving the accuracy of epileptogenic zone localization in stereo EEG with machine learning algorithms. Brain Res. 2023 Aug 24;1820:148546. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2023.148546. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37633355.
  • Aslam S, Damodaran N, Rajeshkannan R, Sarma M, Gopinath S, Pillai A. Asymmetry index in anatomically symmetrized FDG PET improves epileptogenic focus detection in pharmacoresistant epilepsy. Journal of Neurosurgery, 2022.
  • Aslam S, Rajeshkannan R, Sandya CJ, Sarma M, Gopinath S, Pillai A. Statistical asymmetry analysis of volumetric MRI and FDG PET in temporal lobe epilepsy. Epilepsy Behav. 2022 Sep;134:108810. doi: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2022.108810. Epub 2022 Jul 5. PMID: 35802989.
  • Devisetty R, Amsitha MB, Jyothirmai S, Ajai R, Pillai A, Kumar A, Gopinath S, Parasuram H. Localizing epileptogenic network from SEEG using non-linear correlation, mutual information and graph theory analysis. ProcInstMechEng H. 2022 Dec;236(12):1783-1796. doi: 10.1177/09544119221134991. Epub 2022 Nov 8. PMID: 36345880.
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Our Collaborators
  • Hans-Jürgen Huppertz Swiss Epilepsy Clinic, Switzerland.
  • SridharanDevarajan, Center for Neuroscience, IISc, Bangalore.
  • Konrad Wagstyl and Team, Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London.

Important Note

2025 January Intake Admissions Open
Eligibility

Eligibility

  • Have a master’s degree in Engineering or computer science.
  • Be able to work independently.
  • Have programming skills.
  • Have excellent communication and writing skills in English.
  • Work well in team.

Applicants need to send detailed CV and one-page SOP to email ID: aace@aims.amrita.edu and harilal.navami@gmail.com

Contact Us

Dr. HarilalParasuram, Ph. D.

Assistant Professor,
Amrita Advanced Centre for Epilepsy (AACE),
Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences,
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kochi.

Email ID: aace@aims.amrita.edu

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