# Sourcerer IC: A Web-Based Integrative Multi-Modal Workflow for Epilepsy Surgical Planning

> **NIH NIH R44** · BRAIN ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY LABORATORY COMPANY, LLC · 2022 · $262,362

## Abstract

Abstract
The overarching goal of this project is to create software that improves the use of intracranial
EEG to qualify patients with medication-resistant epilepsy for neurosurgery. One million people
in the US suffer from continual seizures that are not controlled by medication. The current
estimate is that half of these could be treated effectively by surgical resection of the epileptic
cortical tissue, and yet the majority of them will not receive the surgery (Engel & Wiebe, 2012).
There are 200 Comprehensive Epilepsy Centers in the US that are certified to provide both the
epilepsy resection and the multimodal presurgical evaluation (clinical semiology,
neuropsychological assessment, EEG, MRI, PET, and intracranial or icEEG). A problem for this
evaluation is the software for integrating the multiple imaging and assessment modalities in the
presurgical workup to allow confidence in the neurosurgical plan. The localization of the icEEG
electrodes is often problematic because of brain shift (movement and deformation of the brain
from the preoperative imaging to the postoperative CT used for electrode position imaging).
With recent advances in dense array EEG (dEEG) with individual head conductivity models,
electrical source imaging can provide noninvasive estimates of the seizure onset zone, which
could then guide more focused and effective icEEG probes, and potentially more confident and
limited neurosurgical resections. The present SBIR research builds on our extensive experience
with icEEG electrode localization, multimodal neuroimage registration, dEEG source imaging,
and user interface design to create Sourcerer IC, a software platform optimized for bringing
multiple forms of evidence to interpret icEEG measures and improve the localization of the
seizure onset zone. The key innovations of this project are: the integration of multimodal
neuroimaging data (MRI, dwMRI, fMRI, PET) registered precisely with structural MRI in a
DICOM format for export to the neurosurgeon’s neuronavigator software; the capacity for
noninvasive dEEG source localization of spikes and seizure onset with individual head
conductivity models in preparation for icEEG electrode placement (as validation rather than
exploration); the correction of brain shift due to surgical implanting of icEEG electrodes by
registering the postoperative CT to the preoperative MRI; and perhaps most importantly, the
integration of all components of the presurgical workup within an intuitive and usable software
workflow with full quality system regulation and validation following FDA guidelines. Sourcerer
IC will build on the many years of experience with Yale’s BioImage Suite, such that physicians
and technicians access their components of the workflow through secure web interfaces, and
the networked database maintains and integrates all transactions to coordinate computational
as well as data resources for efficient completion, review, and implementation of an optimized
neurosurgical plan...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10379723
- **Project number:** 1R44NS120591-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** BRAIN ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY LABORATORY COMPANY, LLC
- **Principal Investigator:** PHAN LUU
- **Activity code:** R44 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $262,362
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-01-01 → 2022-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10379723

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10379723, Sourcerer IC: A Web-Based Integrative Multi-Modal Workflow for Epilepsy Surgical Planning (1R44NS120591-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10379723. Licensed CC0.

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