Barna Dudok, Ph.D.

K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award
Image
photo of Barna Dudok
Institution
Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA

Dr. Barna Dudok is a postdoctoral research fellow in the department of neurosurgery at Stanford University. Under the mentorship of Dr. Ivan Soltesz, Dr. Dudok’s research will examine the role of interneuron (IN) diversity in neuronal microcircuit function, and how dysfunction in various interneuron subtypes is involved in and leads to epilepsy. Dr. Dudok’s work will focus on perisomatic inhibition by two types of basket cells, one of which expresses cholecystokinin (CCK) and the other of which expresses parvalbumin (PV). Both cell types control the firing rate and synchrony of excitatory neurons. He will test the hypothesis that these two classes of neurons are recruited in separate brain states in epilepsy. If his hypothesis is correct, effective treatment may selectively target CCK or PV IN. To do this work, he will utilize an animal model of temporal lobe epilepsy, in vitro electrophysiology, and in vivo 2-photon calcium imaging with correlated hippocampal field potential recording. Dr. Dudok received his Master of Science from Eötvös Loránd University and his PhD from Semmelweis University.