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Biography

Dr. Premysl Jiruska received his M.D. degree in medicine from Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic in 2000. Afterwards, he underwent training in paediatric neurology and started postgraduate studies in neuroscience in Charles University Prague, which he finished in 2004. During his PhD studies he underwent three months residency at Department of Epileptology of University of Bonn.

After completing his PhD, he undertook a postdoctoral position in the group of Prof. John Jefferys at the University of Birmingham, UK, focusing on experimental epilepsy research. In 2008 he was awarded a prestigious personal Sir Desmond Pond fellowship by Epilepsy Research UK to conduct independent research on the mechanisms involved in the transition from normal brain activity to seizure in a chronic in vivo model of temporal lobe epilepsy. During his fellowship he also underwent three months training in Prof. Csicsvari’s lab at University of Oxford.

Currently, he is working at the Department of Developmental Epileptology at The Physiological Institute of The Czech Academy of Sciences. His primary research interest is neurophysiology, in particular, studying abnormal brain circuitry in disease processes, such as epilepsy. His work is internationally recognised for elucidating the cellular and network mechanisms responsible for the transition from normal brain activity to seizures and also for elucidating the role of specific high-frequency oscillations in the pathophysiology of epilepsy.

Qualifications

Research

Epilepsy is the second most common neurological disorder which affects 0.5-1% of population. It is characterized by repeated and spontaneous seizures. In his research Dr. Jiruska focuses mainly on dynamics of neurons and neuronal network preceding seizures and during them and on mechanisms which are responsible for transition to seizure. His current research focuses on large-scale network dynamics and mechanisms of seizure genesis in temporal lobe and neocortical epilepsy. Understanding these mechanisms represents crucial prerequisite to develop novel and more efficient therapy to control seizures (brain stimulation, local drug delivery, optogenetics). For this purpose we utilize sophisticated electrophysiological techniques of recording in brain slices, chronic models of epilepsy and in human patients with epilepsy.

Ability of brain tissue to generate spontaneous seizures results from molecular, structural and functional reorganization of brain structures leading to endogenous epileptogenicity. Epileptogenic tissue generates epileptiform phenomena which enable its identification and contribute to pathogenesis of epilepsy. Dr. Jiruska is particularly interested in high-frequency oscillations – new surrogate marker of epileptogenic tissue. In his research he focuses on the cellular and network mechanisms how this activity is generated, how its spatiotemporal dynamics is related to disease progression and transition to seizure. Additionally, we actively study the role of HFO in presurgical examination to improve presurgical diagnosis and outcome of surgical treatment of epilepsy by better identification of brain tissue necessary to remove to achieve seizure control.

To extract relevant information and better understand the network dynamics we use and develop mathematical signal processing algorithms, techniques from dynamics of complex system and synchronization.

Publications

Jiruska P, Shtaya AB, Bodansky DM, Gray WP, Jefferys JGR

Early progenitor cell proliferation in a non-lesional non-status model of temporal lobe epilepsy.

Neurobiol Dis (accepted)

Jiruska P, de Curtis M, Jefferys JGR, Schevon C, Schiff SJ, Schindler K

Synchronization and Desynchronization in Epilepsy: Controversies and Hypotheses.

J Physiol 2013

Powell AD, Kalbinder GK, Saintot PP, Jiruska P, Chelly J, Billuart P, Jefferys JGR

Rapid reversal of impaired inhibitory and excitatory transmission but not spine dysgenesis in a mouse model of mental retardation.

J Physiol 2012 Feb 15;590(Pt 4):763-76.

http://jp.physoc.org/content/590/4/763.long

Zijlmans M, Jiruska P, Zelmann R, Leijten F, Jefferys JGR, Gotman J.

High Frequency Oscillations as a new biomarker for epileptogenic tissue: pathophysiology and clinical relevance.

Annals of Neurology. 2012;71:169-178

Jiruska P & Bragin A

High-frequency activity in experimental and clinical epileptic foci.

Epilepsy Research 2011 Dec;97(3):300-7.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3338982/

Jiruska P, Marusic P, Jefferys JGR, Krsek P, Cmejla R, Sebronova V, Komarek V.

Sturge-Weber syndrome: a favourable surgical outcome in a case with contralateral seizure onset and myoclonic-astatic seizures.

Epileptic Disorders. 2011, 13(1): 76-81.

http://www.jle.com/fr/revues/medecine/epd/e-docs/00/04/63/93/article.phtml

Jiruska P, Powell AD, Deans JK, Jefferys JGR.

Effects of direct brain stimulation depend on seizure.

Epilepsia 51(Suppl. 3):93–97, 2010.

Jiruska P, Csicsvari J, Powell AD, Fox JE, Chang WC, Vreugdenhil M, Li X, Palus M, Bujan AF, Dearden RW, Jefferys JGR.

High-frequency network activity, global increase in neuronal activity, and synchrony expansion precede epileptic seizures in vitro.

J Neurosci. 2010 Apr 21;30(16):5690-701.

http://www.jneurosci.org/content/30/16/5690.long

Jiruska P, Finnerty GT, Powell AD, Lofti N, Cmejla R, Jefferys JGR.

Epileptic high-frequency network activity in a model of non-lesional temporal lobe epilepsy.

Brain. 2010 May;133(Pt 5):1380-90.

http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/content/133/5/1380.long

Oke OO, Magony A, Anver H, Ward PD, Jiruska P, Jefferys JGR, Vreugdenhil M.

High-frequency gamma oscillations coexist with low-frequency gamma oscillations in the rat visual cortex in vitro.

Eur J Neurosci. 2010 Apr 31(8):1435-45.

Jiruska P, Powell AD, Chang WC, Jefferys JGR.

Electrographic high-frequency activity and epilepsy.

Epilepsy Res. 2010 Mar; 89(1):60-5.

Jiruska P, Cmejla R, Powell AD, Chang WC, Vreugdenhil M, Jefferys JGR.

Reference noise method of removing powerline noise from recorded signals.

J Neurosci Methods. 2009 Oct 30;184(1):110-4.

http://www.jle.com/en/revues/medecine/epd/e-docs/00/04/3F/C7/resume.phtml

Jiruska P, Tomasek M, Netuka D, Otahal J, Jefferys JGR, Li X, Marusic P:

Clinical impact of high-frequency seizure onset zone in a case of bi-temporal epilepsy.

Epileptic Disord. 2009 10, 231-238.

Li X, Cui D, Jiruska P, Fox JE, Yao X, Jefferys JGR.

Synchronization Measurement of Multiple Neuronal Populations Based on Correlation Matrix Analysis.

J Neurophysiol. 2007 Dec;98(6):3341-8;

http://jn.physiology.org/content/98/6/3341.long

Jiruska P, Proks J, Otahal J, Mares P.

Motor correlates of models of secondary bilateral synchrony and multiple epileptic foci.

Seizure. 2007 Oct;16(7):627-35.

Jiruska P, Proks J, Drbal O, Sovka P, Marusic P, Mares P.

Comparison of different methods of time shift measurement in EEG.

Physiol Res. 2005;54(4):459-65.

Vajnerova O, Bielavska E, Jiruska P, Brozek G.

State of somnolence slows down licking frequency in rats.

Physiol Res. 2003;52(2):243-9.

Krsek P, Tichy M, Belsan T, Zamecnik J, Paulas L, Faladova L, Jiruska P, Mulisova A, Komarek V

Life-saving epilepsy surgery for status epilepticus caused by cortical dysplasia.

Epileptic Disord. 2002 Sep;4(3):203-8.

Jiruska P, Mormann F, Jefferys JGR:

Neuronal and network dynamics preceding experimental seizures.

In: Seizure Prediction in Epilepsy (in press)

Jefferys JGR, Jiruska P, de Curtis M, Avoli M:

Limbic Network Synchronization.

Jasper’s Basic Mechanisms of the Epilepsies. 4th edition. 2012

Jefferys JGR & Jiruska P :

Basic Mechanisms of Seizure Generation.

In: Epilepsy: the intersection of Neurosciences, Biology, Mathematics, Engineering, and Physics. 2010

Jiruska P & Jefferys JGR:

High-frequency pre-seizure activity and seizure prediction.

In: Seizure Prediction in Epilepsy - From Basic Mechanisms to Clinical Applications. 2009.

Jefferys JGR & Jiruska P :

High-frequency weakly-synchronized activity at the onset focal seizures.

Encyclopaedia of Basic Epilepsy Research. 2009.

Jefferys JGR & Jiruska P :

The tetanus toxin model of temporal lobe epilepsy.

Encyclopaedia of Basic Epilepsy Research. 2009.

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