Loddenkemper Research Laboratory

Welcome to the Loddenkemper Lab

Our mission is to prevent, predict, detect, and treat every seizure and status epilepticus in children before it occurs. We envision a world in which seizure freedom is achieved for all children through closed-loop early warnings/treatments and aim to provide critical data to further the understanding of epilepsy for medical professionals, families, and patients alike by using machine learning and predictive algorithms to prevent seizures and diffuse the stigma of the disease. As for clinical aims, we simply strive to provide the best care possible for pediatric patients with epilepsy.

Combined, these aims guide our work and help us develop epilepsy care from a largely inpatient driven population to continuous outpatient care, and integrate seizure monitoring tools for seizure detection/prediction in patients at greatest risk for complications such as status epilepticus and sudden, unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). 

Advanced seizure tracking and warning systems

Seizures frequently are not identified by patients and families. These trials, led by Tobias Loddenkemper, MD, test novel, portable epilepsy monitoring sensors and tools that can detect seizures by means of autonomic nervous system features, patient movement, and other vital signs and parameters. The devices allow for rescue measures and tracking of less severe seizures and treatment responses, and may help patients gain better control over seizures.

Pediatric Status Epilepticus Research

pSERG is an international consortium coordinated out of Boston Children’s Hospital and lead by Dr. Tobias Loddenkemper. This consortium is developing a registry of refractory status epilepticus episodes with the goal of investigating outcomes of prolonged seizures that are resistant to at least two lines of antiepileptic rescue medications.

How do we do it?

• Inventing, evaluating and implementing clinically relevant biomarkers and treatment paradigms to assess and benchmark these based on clinical data, neurophysiology, imaging, pharmacogenomics and genetics, in collaboration with basic researchers locally, nationally, and internationally.
• Developing and evaluating monitoring tools for clinical biomarkers to further clinical epilepsy outcome measures including seizure characterization, neuropsychological outcome assessment, and quality of life assessment by means of seizure sensors and electronic tools including TriVox, the RENCI seizure tracking and outcome prediction modeling software, and novel in- and outpatient monitoring devices and algorithms, and neurophysiological, biochemical and genetic periodicity markers and implement these techniques into clinical workflow.
• Research networks and collaborations are essential for our work, like the Pediatric Status Epilepticus Research Group, the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Consortium, the pediatric critical care epilepsy research group, the Critical Care EEG Monitoring Research Consortium, the Pediatric Neurocritical Care Research Group, and other consortia.

Publications

Click for a full list of Loddenkemper Lab publications on PubMed.