Lab Updates

Andy's K23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award, "Characterizing Frontal-Limbic Circuit Specific Subtype of Depression in Epilepsy Using Intracranial EEG" (Award No. KMH147414A), has been accepted for review at the July 2025 ZRG1 SEP study section at NIMH. This is the primary funding vehicle for the lab's biomarker discovery program.

Our in-ear EEG platform manuscript has been submitted to Sensors (MDPI), describing a novel Pearson r²-derived SNR metric for ambulatory interictal epileptiform discharge detection using the external auditory canal as a recording site. The manuscript was substantially co-written by medical student Ryan. Developed in collaboration with the Achin Bhowmik lab at Starkey Hearing Technologies.

Andy co-investigated a Research Activity Grant (RAG) proposal, "SENTINEL," led by Dr. Lulu Guo (WVU Neurology) targeting care coordination for patients with comorbid epilepsy and sleep disorders in rural Appalachian communities. Proposal focuses on telehealth-enabled, community health worker-mediated outreach.

Andy delivered an invited grand rounds to WVU Internal Medicine addressing the systemic interactions of seizures, antiseizure medications, and surgical management, including cardiac, metabolic, endocrine, and psychiatric comorbidities in epilepsy. Designed to improve recognition and co-management of epilepsy among hospitalists and internists.

Andy co-presented a grand rounds lecture to WVU Family Medicine with Dr. D. Kojo Adelson (Pediatric Neurology), covering the developmental epidemiology of epilepsy, seizure recognition, first-line treatment, and indications for subspecialty referral across pediatric and adult populations.

Andy submitted a Letter of Intent to the Focused Ultrasound Foundation for a mechanistic SEEG-based study of low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) effects on human intracranial oscillatory activity. Proposes ANT-targeted LIFU using NaviFUS technology, with real-time stereoEEG biomarker acquisition as the primary outcome.

Andy appeared on the WVU Health Sciences "Live Healthy WV" podcast to discuss epilepsy care access barriers in West Virginia, the role of telemedicine and community outreach in reaching underserved populations, and the state of the epilepsy surgery program at WVU Medicine.

Andy submitted the K23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award application to NIMH after an 18-month development process. The application targets frontal-limbic circuit biomarkers of depression in drug-resistant epilepsy, leveraging the WVU SEEG research platform and mentorship from Drs. Mayberg, Parvaz, Konrad, Zheng, and Nelson.

Abstract accepted to the American Epilepsy Society Annual Meeting, presenting preliminary data from the intracranial EEG depression biomarker dataset and methodology for the K23 clinical protocol.

First external submission of the SeizEAR in-ear EEG manuscript to BMC Digital Health. Manuscript subsequently revised and resubmitted to Sensors (MDPI) with expanded methodological detail and peer reviewer responses incorporated.

The Chan Lab received a subaward through the NSF IUCRC BRAIN Center supporting early-stage development of an augmented reality brain-computer interface for aphasia rehabilitation using the Cognixion Axon-R headset and Pupil Labs eye-tracking. IRB umbrella protocol developed to cover multi-site IUCRC research activities.

Ho Wing (Andy) Chan, MD officially joined the WVU Department of Neurology as Assistant Professor and Epileptologist-Physician Scientist. He established the Chan Lab (Neural Circuits and Neurotechnology Laboratory) at the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, bringing an intracranial electrophysiology and neuromodulation research program focused on epilepsy-depression comorbidity, BCI development, and digital biomarkers.