Epilepsy Phenome/Genome Project

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders and is a major public health concern. Approximately 30 percent of people with epilepsy have medically intractable epilepsy, and the medical and social consequences of the disorder are enormous. Treatments developed for epilepsy have largely been experimental rather than based on knowledge of basic mechanisms because the mechanisms are poorly understood. The Epilepsy Phenome/Genome Project (EPGP) is a large-scale, international, multi-institutional, collaborative research project aimed at advancing the understanding of the genetic basis of the most common forms of epilepsy. The overall goal of EPGP is to collect detailed, high quality phenotypic (i.e., characteristics of individuals, from the molecular level to the whole person) information on persons with epilepsy and to compare the phenotypic information with genomic information. EPGP will provide a resource that may lead to many discoveries related to the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy, including the eventual development of new therapies based on a better understanding of causes of the disorder.