Swansea University and King's College London have joined forces to address the challenges of drug-resistant epilepsy, backed by a £1.1 million grant. This collaboration, which brings together clinicians, data scientists, AI experts, and individuals from the Epilepsy Research Institute’s Shape Network, is set to use innovative technology to improve understanding and treatment of this condition.
Epilepsy affects over 600,000 people in the UK, with around 30% of these individuals experiencing drug-resistant epilepsy, leading to elevated risks and complications such as seizures, and problems with memory and mood. This project aims to leverage natural language processing and artificial intelligence to analyze anonymized data collected routinely by healthcare professionals. The ultimate goal is to gain insight into who might develop drug-resistant epilepsy and to enhance treatment approaches.
Dr. Owen Pickrell, the project lead and an associate professor and neurologist at Swansea University, stated: “By combining cutting-edge AI with real-world clinical data we have a unique opportunity to understand more about epilepsy which does not respond to treatment and to help people living with the condition.”
Professor Mark Richardson, who co-leads the project and serves as the Head of the School of Neuroscience at King's, emphasized the synergy between the two institutions: “Our two centres, King’s and Swansea, have previously worked independently to develop state-of-the-art methods to extract relevant information from thousands of health records. Now, we will join forces to accelerate our progress.”
Annee Amjad, Epilepsy Research Institute’s Head of Research and Involvement, also expressed support for this innovative venture.