In our lab we study basic cellular mechanisms of neuronal function in mammalian cortical structures. Our main focus is on mechanisms that underlie epilepsy, a common neurological disorder (0.5-1% world-wide), characterized by recurrent seizures. A seizure is a sudden interruption in normal brain function during which a large population of neurons fires repetitively and in high synchrony. A cortical structure having a low threshold for seizure generation is the hippocampus. Even when cut into thin slices and maintained in a dish in artificial physiological conditions, rat hippocampal tissue readily can be induced to generate seizure-like discharges. This provides us with an experimentally advantageous model for studying the cellular and molecular mechanisms of epilepsy.