 Well, I would like to thank the Brain Foundation for so generously supporting this project. Alex Bryson sends his apologies for being unable to attend tonight. He's currently spending time in Switzerland working with the European Human Brain Project learning some skills that he will use in his PhD project. Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders worldwide. Most people who suffer from this condition face the prospect of taking long-term anti-epileptic medications along with the side effects these entail. Epilepsy often imposes significant lifestyle restrictions due to the randomness and unpredictability of the seizures. Despite many new anti-epileptic medications over the last 10 years, roughly a third of patients have ongoing seizures. This problem is due to the relatively nonspecific mode of action of the drugs and our limited understanding of how seizures are generated in the brain. The recent identification of gene mutations that cause epilepsy has raised the possibility of precision therapy. The hope that medications targeted at the consequences of a gene mutation will offer a more effective, patient-specific, better tolerated treatment. However, a major obstacle is understanding how a gene mutation, which alters the function of single neurons, produces seizures, which are abnormal electrical activity within large numbers of neurons. I suspect the title of this project may appear quite removed from the cold face of clinical medicine. However, methods drawn from computational neuroscience, which is my own field, are well suited to address this topic. The first step is to take experimental data from human epilepsy mutation and create a computer model of a neuron with this mutation. This computer model will replicate the electrical properties of a mutated epilepsy-causing neuron that can be compared to a normal neuron. The next step will be to explore the behavior of a population of these neurons, along with non-mutated neurons. This will be performed in collaboration with the European Human Brain Project and use a detailed computer model of a region of the brain that they have developed. This will allow us to explore the impact that a population of mutated neurons has on a network of neurons. Modeling this process provides a crucial window into which to view the hidden electrical activity of the brain. It may also provide insight into how a seizure is generated within the brain and how we might prevent this process with targeted therapy. So this research excites us as it provides an opportunity to understand brain function and dysfunction at a very fundamental level. Computational neuroscience is well placed to extend our knowledge of neurological disease. This will lead to many new therapeutic advances in coming years. Epilepsy in particular serves to benefit from this progress. Once again, I would like to thank the Brain Foundation for their support and we look forward to providing future updates.