Research & Teaching

Neuroscientists at the University Hospital Erlangen, the Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) and the University of Birmingham are researching how different parts of the brain work together to build and retrieve memories.

Their findings may help to better treat memory disorders in the future.

The study is published in the prestigious journal PNAS.

Thanks to magnetoencephalography (MEG), epilepsy surgeons achieve significantly better results for their patients during surgeries. The study, led by PD Dr. Stefan Rampp and published in the scientific journal "Brain - A Journal of Neurology", is the world's largest research study on the subject with the longest investigation period to date.

Full version of the study: https://academic.oup.com/brain/advance-article/doi/10.1093/brain/awz231/5543071?searchresult=1 

Research into the causes of epilepsy is another focus area, covering inflammatory changes and electrophysiological markers of difficult-to-treat epilepsies. We also conduct studies on the genetic make-up which might cause epilepsy to develop. The development and enhancement of therapeutic and diagnostic procedures constitutes another area of the Epilepsy Centre's research activities. The Centre operates a magnetoencephalogram (MEG), state-of-the-art electroencephalography (EEG) devices and a high-performance magnetic resonance imaging scanner.

As part of our health services research, we also focus our patients' social lives. In this respect, we are interested in observing how the patient feels when no seizures occur and how the quality of life of epilepsy patients can be improved both in their private lives and working lives.

In all these research projects, the Centre maintains close interdisciplinary links with other departments at the University, working together to analyse and evaluate the findings and information gained even more effectively.