Neurosciences Research Recruitment

Jane and John Justin Neurosciences Research Center is looking for children to participate in research studies

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) scan

Preparing a child for a magnetoencephalography (MEG) scan to evaluate brain activity.

At Cook Children's Jane and John Justin Neurosciences Research Center, we're always looking for ways to improve the lives of children. Thanks to technologically advanced techniques, we can better understand how children with various brain disorders process information and develop differently from healthy children. Through our research, we specifically try to help children who suffer from epilepsy, cerebral palsy, depression or anxiety. For our research to be successful and meaningful, we're looking for children who suffer from epilepsy or cerebral palsy as well as healthy children to participate in non-invasive studies. These studies enable us to compare the results of healthy kids to those from children with brain disorders to see the differences in how they process information. There's no cost to you for your child's participation in a research study, and you'll be compensated for your time and effort.

We're recruiting healthy children for all of the studies listed below.

Epilepsy research studies

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) showing the area of brain that controls a child's thumb movement.

Approximately 1 in 10 people will have a seizure during their lifetime. And 1 in 26 people will be diagnosed as having epilepsy. Even though there are many drugs to treat epilepsy, up to 30% of people will not respond to medication and will continue to have seizures on a regular basis. When drugs fail, the next option is brain surgery.

Recruiting healthy children

We need to be able to identify what the signals from a normal brain look like and compare them with the signals generated by a brain that suffers from epilepsy. We do this by measuring the electrical signals that their brain creates using non-invasive methods.

We're looking for healthy children between 6 months and 25 years of age with no history of neurologic disorder, brain injury, trauma, or surgery. Your child should not have any metallic implants, including braces on their teeth, and needs to be able to understand and follow basic instructions (as appropriate for age).

Recruiting children with uncontrolled epilepsy

To help children with epilepsy who are unable to control their seizures with drugs, we measure the electrical signals that their brain creates using totally passive, non-invasive methods. These electrical signals may help identify the exact location of seizure onset, making surgery more accurate with higher chance of success. In addition to traditional markers of seizure onset, recent research has identified another type of brain activity that may be indicative of where seizures begin. These brain waves are called high-frequency oscillations (HFOs), and our research study aims to examine how useful they are for planning brain surgery for children with epilepsy.

We're looking for children between 6 months and 18 years of age with a diagnosis of epilepsy that isn't controlled by medication and have been referred for surgery evaluation. Your child should not have any metallic implants, including braces on their teeth, and needs to be able to understand and follow basic instructions (as appropriate for age).

What will my child be asked to do?

High-density EEG, or electroencephalography, which measures brain activity through the scalp using a device similar to a hair net that has many round sensors to pick up on the electrical activity of the brain
MEG, or magnetoencephalography, which measures the magnetic field the brain creates outside the head by using a machine with a place to put your head in like a helmet, which measures these fields
MRI/DTI, or magnetic resonance imaging/diffusion tensor imaging, which maps pathways in the brain by using a standard MRI machine where you lay down and move into a tube shaped machine

Depression and epilepsy study

Mapping thumb movement using TMS

By placing the TMS coil next to the child’s head, we aim to activate the area of the brain responsible for thumb movement.

Children with epilepsy experience mental health disorders at a higher rate than their healthy peers. Depression is seen in nearly 50% of these children; anxiety, close to 30%. Our research is looking at how to identify these children and see if seizure activity makes decreased mental health more likely, and if treatments and outcomes can be better suited for children with epilepsy.

We're looking for English-speaking children between 10 and 25 years of age with a diagnosis of epilepsy or PNES (also called pseudo-seizures). Your child should not have a genetic syndrome diagnosis, or metallic implants, including braces on their teeth, and should be able to understand and follow basic instructions (as appropriate for age).

What will my child be asked to do?

High-density EEG, or electroencephalography, which measures brain activity through the scalp using a device similar to a hair net that has many round sensors to pick up on the electrical activity of the brain
MEG, or magnetoencephalography, which measures the magnetic field the brain creates outside the head by using a machine with a place to put your head in like a helmet, which measures these fields
MRI or magnetic resonance imaging, provides images of the brain that tell us information on how it is structured and how it functions by using a standard MRI scanner where you lay down and move into a tube shaped machine.
Questionnaire done online which includes family history and symptom measures

Cerebral palsy research studies

Behavioral assessment of hand functions

Child performing tasks to score how well specific hand functions are performed.

Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common physical disability in children. It affects both how they move and how they sense and feel things due to damage to their brains. Right now there isn't much known about exactly how their brains are different, so doctors diagnose CP by how a child acts.

We're looking for healthy infants and children from 0 to 18 years of age with no history of neurologic disorder, brain injury, trauma, or surgery. Your child should not have a genetic syndrome diagnosis, metallic implants, including braces on their teeth, and needs to be able to understand and follow basic instructions (as appropriate for age).

Neuroimaging study

We have an ongoing research study looking at various aspects of CP, trying to figure out how a child with CP processes information in their brains differently than a typical child. This information may help inform the development of more effective therapies for CP.

We're looking for children from 0 to 18 years of age with a diagnosis of a brain injury and/or cerebral palsy. Must be high-functioning as indicated by a Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) score of I or II. Your child should not have a genetic syndrome diagnosis, baclofen pump or metallic implants including braces on their teeth, and should be able to understand and follow basic instructions (as appropriate for age).

What will my child be asked to do?

High-density EEG, or electroencephalography, which measures brain activity through the scalp using a device similar to a hair net that has many round sensors to pick up on the electrical activity of the brain
MEG, or magnetoencephalography, which measures the magnetic field the brain creates outside the head by using a machine with a place to put your head in like a helmet, which measures these fields
MRI/DTI, or magnetic resonance imaging/diffusion tensor imaging, which maps pathways in the brain by using a standard MRI machine where you lay down and move into a tube shaped machine
TMS, or transcranial magnetic stimulation, which passes a very small magnetic field into the brain from outside the head to map the pathway of nerves in the brain
A series of sensory and behavioral tests to see how well the nerves and brain are working

Robotic rehabilitation study

Robotic-assisted hand and finger therapy

This study helps with hand rehabilitation for children with movement disorders.

Our robotic rehabilitation study uses an FDA-approved hand and finger training machine to see if manual training improves use of the hands. In addition, we're looking to learn if functional improvement results in changes in how the brain processes information. This could help develop treatments and therapies for CP in the future.

We're looking for children from 7 to 18 years of age with a diagnosis of a brain injury and/or cerebral palsy that only affects one side of the body (hemiplegic) and be high-functioning as indicated by a Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) score of I or II. Your child should not have a genetic syndrome diagnosis, baclofen pump or metallic implants including braces on their teeth, and should be able to understand and follow basic instructions (as appropriate for age).

What will my child be asked to do?

High-density EEG, or electroencephalography, which measures brain activity through the scalp using a device similar to a hair net that has many round sensors to pick up on the electrical activity of the brain
MRI/DTI, or magnetic resonance imaging/diffusion tensor imaging, which maps pathways in the brain by using a standard MRI machine where you lay down and move into a tube shaped machine
TMS, or transcranial magnetic stimulation, which passes a very small magnetic field into the brain from outside the head to map the pathway of nerves in the brain
A series of sensory and behavioral tests to see how well the nerves and brain are working
Up to 14 daily visits to perform hand training on the robotic rehabilitation machine

Bottle study

Newborn bottle study

Feeding an infant in the neonatal intensive care unit using a smart device to measure sucking.

Often the brain injury that leads to a diagnosis happens before, during, or immediately following birth. However, because CP is diagnosed based on behavior later in childhood, we have no way of knowing which injured baby will go on to develop normally, and which will have CP. Our goal is to find out if how a baby sucks on a bottle, measured with an FDA-approved device, can predict a future CP diagnosis. This could lead to earlier therapies and better outcomes for infants with brain injuries.

To do this, we're looking for newborns with any of the following: 1) preterm, specifically, those born between 26 and 32 weeks of pregnancy, 2) diagnosis of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and had 3 days of cooling, 3) born with a heart defect, 4) were on a heart-lung machine (ECMO) for at least 3 days following birth, 5) or had a stroke. Your baby should not have any head or facial deformities (such as cleft palate), short bowel syndrome, or been born in withdrawal from maternal drug use.

What will my baby be asked to do?

High-density EEG, or electroencephalography, which measures brain activity through the scalp using a device similar to a hair net that has many round sensors to pick up on the electrical activity of the brain
MRI/DTI, or magnetic resonance imaging/diffusion tensor imaging, which maps pathways in the brain by using a standard MRI machine where you lay down and move into a tube shaped machine
Weekly bottle feedings using the bottle system to measure sucking
Movement assessments to see how the baby is developing

If you are interested in entering your child into any of these studies, or if you'd like more information, please call or text us at 682-715-5026 or email us at NeuroResearch@cookchildrens.org

There's no cost to you to participate in any research study and you will be compensated for your time and effort.