Research

The research program in child neurology uses state-of-the-art scientific methods to improve the understanding of neurological disorders affecting children of all ages, focusing on both common conditions and unusual diseases that can lead to serious complications. Examples include autism, epilepsy, neuromuscular disorders, neurofibromatosis, and neurogenetic diseases. Our faculty and staff utilize cutting-edge techniques such as advanced neuroimaging, molecular biology and cell signaling in a partnership with basic scientists and multidisciplinary clinical teams. 

Mohamad Mikati, MD, Chief
Areas of interest: Alternating hemiplegia of childhood, clinical epilepsy (pharmacology, genetics, pharmacogenetics), basic mechanisms of alternating hemiplegia of childhood and seizure-related neuronal injury.

Joan Mary Jasien, MD
Areas of interest: Cerebral palsy, monogenic autism, alternating hemiplegia of childhood.

Sujay Kansagra, MD
Areas of interest: Pharmacologic treatment of narcolepsy.

Ave Maria Lachiewicz, MD
Areas of interest: Fragile X syndrome.

Monica E. Lemmon, MD
Areas of interest: Neonatal neurology, ethics, prognosis after neonatal brain injury.

Carolyn Pizoli, MD, PhD
Areas of interest: Understanding the development of neural networks after acquired brain injury.

Edward Clinton Smith, MD
Areas of interest: Neuromuscular disorders, muscular dystrophy.

Purnima Thyagarajan Valdez, MD
Areas of interest: Autism, effect of electronic media on the developing brain.

Klaus-George Erich Werner, MD, PhD
Areas of interest: Headaches, tuberous sclerosis.

Muhammad Shahzad Zafar, MBBS
Areas of interest: Emerging and promising medical therapies in epilepsy, finding new methods to detect the cause of epilepsy which can guide surgeons to achieve the best outcomes.

Rose-Mary Boustany, MD
Areas of interest: Neurogenetic disorders, lysosomal storage disease, general neurology.

Abeer Hani, MD
Areas of interest: Epilepsy syndromes and therapy.

Dmitry Tchapyjnikov, MD
Areas of interest: Medical therapies and interventions for treating epilepsy and status epilepticus (prolonged seizures), studying neurodevelopmental outcomes in infants with congenital Zika virus exposure.

George Robert DeLong, MD
Areas of interest: Neuropsychiatric disorders, autism.

Arsen Hunanyan, MD
Areas of interest: Neurophysiology and basic mechanisms of epilepsy.

In clinical research, we are addressing several important questions:

• The relationship between febrile seizures and medial temporal sclerosis. The use of new structural MRI diagnostic techniques allows the testing of the intriguing hypothesis that prolonged febrile seizures lead to medial temporal sclerosis.
• The development and testing of new anti-epileptic drugs and the investigation of the role of continuous EEG monitoring in the management of patients with acute brain insults and traumatic brain injury.
• The long-term outcome after acute neurological insults in neonates and older children. A team of specialists including neurologists, neonatologists, and psychologists, and others are joining forces to assess these outcomes and determine the predictors that influence them.

In basic research, we seek to:

• Determine the genetic basis of a number of neurogenetic diseases, including familial epilepsy syndromes and autism. The ultimate aim of this research is to achieve a better understanding of the causes of these disorders and the factors that influence resistance to therapy.
• Define the basic mechanisms of neuronal injury in the developing brain, with the hope that this information will ultimately lead to new therapeutic approaches to protect children from the effects of insults that damage the brain and from the effects of seizure related injuries.

In translational research, we are collaborating with basic science and clinical research programs in several departments. These collaborative efforts focus on the identification of genetic markers for prediction of clinical outcome and on the response to novel interventions and therapies in a number of serious diseases. Specifically, these efforts include defining the following: 

• The nature of the mechanisms underlying autism and the chromosomal abnormalities that could contribute to this and related conditions. Among these is the GABA(A) receptor alpha5 subunit as a candidate gene for autism and bipolar disorder.
• The identification of biochemical markers and therapeutic targets in cell signaling pathways in NF-1. This work is performed via the Duke Neurofibromatosis Clinic, which is an Affiliate Clinic of the Children’s Tumor Foundation Neurofibromatosis Clinical Network
• The response of a variety of neuromuscular and neurogenetic disorders to enzyme therapy and vector-mediated gene therapy. 4. The identification of mutations that result in febrile seizures and intractable epilepsy.
• The pharmacogenetics of epilepsy.
• Utilization of novel in vitro models of neurodegenerative diseases with transgene expression by nucleofection, aiming to facilitate drug discovery.

For further information about clinical trials currently being conducted in the Division of Child Neurology, please visit dukechildrens.org.