Epilepsy is a common devastating chronic neurological disease affecting 1 percent of the population. There are multiple causes and different pathophysiological basis for the epilepsies. Advances in magnetic resonance technology have had a tremendous impact in the research and clinical applications to epilepsy. These include both unsurpassed anatomical resolution, functional information, as well as metabolic data. Use of this technology has allowed not only noninvasive localization of brain function and epileptogenic foci, but also has shed some important information on the pathophysiology of epilepsy, such as brain metabolism and brain neurotransmitters. The rapid pace of advances in this field have crested the need for further collaboration between basic scientists and clinicians. The purpose of this grant is to support a 2.5 day invited interdisciplinary meeting of 50 international MR physics experts and epilepsy clinicians who are active in MR collaborative research. They will exchange information and research questions in an informal format of tutorials, brief presentations, and open discussions. This is meant to foster collaborations and new research initiative both within and between centers. The meeting will guide the physicists towards the most relevant disease questions and broaden the epileptologists appreciation and utilization of this rapidly advancing technology. An attempt will be made to promptly publish the output of this dialogue in the form of a book or journal supplement.
