Jasper’s Basic Mechanisms of the Epilepsies

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Jasper’s Basic Mechanisms of the Epilepsies has served as the definitive reference in the field of basic research in the epilepsies for five decades through four well-regarded editions. Since its inception, the book has been an indispensable must-read and belongs in the hands of every experimental epilepsy investigator, practicing epileptologist, clinical neuroscientist, and student for both clinical and basic science reference, doctoral and board exam preparation.

This fifth edition is the most ambitious yet and remains the definitive reference in the field, providing encyclopedic and updated coverage of the current understanding of basic research in the epilepsies, while also mapping new research directions for the next decade, and reviewing how molecular laboratory evidence is now being translated into new therapeutics. In 79 chapters, the book considers the role of interactions between neurons, synapses, and glia in the initiation, spread, and arrest of seizures. It examines mechanisms of excitability, synchronization, seizure susceptibility and, ultimately, their contributions to epileptogenesis. It provides a framework for expanding the monogenic epilepsy genome and understanding the complex heredity responsible for common epilepsies. It explores the molecular and cellular disease mechanisms of ion channelopathies, developmental epilepsy genes, and progressive myoclonic epilepsies. It considers newly emerging mechanisms of epilepsy comorbidities. And, for the first time, it describes current efforts to identify biomarkers of disease progression and translate discoveries of epilepsy disease mechanisms into new therapeutic strategies at the frontier of molecular medicine.

Jeffrey L. Noebels is Cullen Chair in Neurogenetics and Professor of Neurology, Neuroscience, and Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine. His major research focus is to identify genes and molecular targets for the treatment of epilepsy and its comorbidities.

Massimo Avoli is Professor in the Departments of Neurology & Neurosurgery and Physiology at McGill University, and a member of the Neural Circuits Research Group at the Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital. His laboratory employs electrophysiological, pharmacological and molecular approaches to analyze the mechanisms of neuronal network excitability and seizure generation.

Michael A. Rogawski is Distinguished Professor of Neurology and Pharmacology at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine. His research encompasses the cellular neurophysiology of ion channels, the mechanisms of action of antiseizure medications, and epilepsy therapy discovery and development.

Annamaria Vezzani is head of the Laboratory of Experimental Neurology, Department of Neuroscience at the Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS. Her main research focus is on mechanisms of seizures and epileptogenesis, with the aim of identifying biomarkers and developing new epilepsy treatments.

Antonio V. Delgado-Escueta is Professor Emeritus in Neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He studies the mechanisms of genetic epilepsies, including Lafora progressive myoclonus epilepsy and the genetic generalized epilepsies, like Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsies and Childhood Absence Epilepsies.