Collaborating and sharing data in epilepsy research

Technological advances are dramatically advancing translational research in Epilepsy. Neurophysiology, imaging and meta-data are now recorded digitally in most centers, enabling quantitative analysis. Basic and translational research opportunities to use these data are exploding, but academic and funding cultures a preventing this potential from being realized. Research on epileptogenic networks, anti-epileptic devices and biomarkers could progress rapidly, if collaborative efforts to digest this “big neuro data” could be organized. Higher temporal and spatial resolution data are driving the need for novel multi-dimensional visualization and analysis tools. Crowd-sourced science, the same that drives innovation in computer science, could easily be mobilized for these tasks, were it not for competition for funding, attribution and lack of standard data formats and platforms. As these efforts mature, there is a great opportunity to advance Epilepsy research through data sharing, and increase collaboration between within the international research community.