Gary I. Yellen, Ph.D.

Dr. Yellen’s research focuses on the relationship between neuronal metabolism and excitability to improve epilepsy treatment. Drug-resistant epilepsy affects millions of people and one of the most effective treatments is dietary therapy that changes brain metabolism; however, the mechanism by which diet therapy prevents seizures is poorly understood. His project aims to use gene alteration in a mouse model to produce metabolism-based seizure resistance, and to define the molecular and cellular mechanism for seizure resistance and discover pharmacological tools that mimic it, with the goal of finding new therapeutic approaches that exploit this anticonvulsant mechanism.