Harinarayan Young Neuroscientist Award 2021

Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston MA, USA

"Non-cell autonomous hyperexcitability underlies focal epileptogenesis mediated by low-level brain somatic mutations in MTOR"

Hyunyong Koh is a post-doctoral trainee at the Epilepsy Genetics Program in the Department of Neurology in Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School since 2019, working on human genetics and translational neurobiology of children having rare genetic epilepsies and zebrafish models with Dr. Annapurna Poduri MD MPH. He received his MD from CHA University School of Medicine and PhD from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea, studying the role of brain somatic mutation in BRAF and MTOR genes affecting neural circuits and behaviors in focal cortical dysplasia and ganglioglioma with Dr. Jeong Ho Lee MD PhD. His research interests are discovering epilepsy-causing genes by variable alterations including de novo mosaic and germline mutation, understanding molecular mechanisms and neuroscience of genetic epilepsies throughout the animal models, and developing novel therapies for unmet-medical needs in epilepsy patients