Laura Jansen

Associate Professor, Neurology

Primary Location

PO Box 800394
Cobb Hall
Charlottesville, VA 22908

Primary Phone Number

434.924.5312

Bio & Overview

My research interests are related to conditions that cause epilepsy and brain malformations in children. My lab uses a combination of biochemical, electrophysiological, and imaging techniques to analyze both human brain specimens and cell culture models. Current projects ongoing in the lab include: 1) Characterizing the development of GABAergic inhibition in the premature and neonatal brain, and determining the effect of conditions causing seizures on this development. 2) Identifying the consequences of abnormal PI3K/AKT pathway activity on neuronal signaling. 3) Determining the histopathologic and functional outcomes of genetic mutations that cause neurologic disease in children.

Academic Information

Department: Neurology

Academic Title: Associate Professor of Medicine

Primary Education

MD/PhD, Pharmacology, Saint Louis University, 1998
Medical Residency, Pediatric Neurology, Washington University, 2003

Other Appointments

Associate Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics
Associate Professor of Medicine, Pharmacology

Other Affiliations

BIMS
BIMS

Research Interests

Pediatric Epilepsy, Human Brain Development, Inhibitory Neurotransmission

Research Disciplines

Molecular Pharmacology

Research Opportunities

Molecular Pharmacology

Selected Publications

Cheah CS, Westenbroek RE, Roden WH, Kalume F, Oakley JC, Jansen LA, Catterall WA, Correlations in timing of sodium channel expression, epilepsy, and sudden death in Dravet syndrome., 2013; Channels (Austin, Tex.). 7(6) . PMID: 23965409

Jansen LA, Hevner RF, Roden WH, Hahn SH, Jung S, Gospe Jr SM, Glial localization of antiquitin: Implications for pyridoxine-dependent epilepsy., 2013; Annals of neurology. () . PMID: 24122892

Poliachik SL, Poliakov AV, Jansen LA, McDaniel SS, Wray CD, Kuratani J, Saneto RP, Ojemann JG, Novotny EJ, Tissue localization during resective epilepsy surgery., 2013; Neurosurgical focus. 34(6) E8. PMID: 23724842

Hyslop AE, Droker BS, Jansen LA, Clinical reasoning: an unexpected diagnosis in a 4-month-old infant with lethargy and H1N1 influenza., 2011; Neurology. 76(18) e88-92. PMID: 21536632

Roden WH, Peugh LD, Jansen LA, Altered GABA(A) receptor subunit expression and pharmacology in human Angelman syndrome cortex., 2010; Neuroscience letters. 483(3) 167-72. PMID: 20692323

Donsante A, Johnson P, Jansen LA, Kaler SG, Somatic mosaicism in Menkes disease suggests choroid plexus-mediated copper transport to the developing brain., 2010; American journal of medical genetics. Part A. 152(10) 2529-34. PMID: 20799318

Jansen LA, Peugh LD, Roden WH, Ojemann JG, Impaired maturation of cortical GABA(A) receptor expression in pediatric epilepsy., 2010; Epilepsia. 51(8) 1456-67. PMID: 20132297

Jansen LA, Peugh LD, Ojemann JG, GABA(A) receptor properties in catastrophic infantile epilepsy., 2008; Epilepsy research. 81(2) 188-97. PMID: 18650066

Zeng LH, Ouyang Y, Gazit V, Cirrito JR, Jansen LA, Ess KC, Yamada KA, Wozniak DF, Holtzman DM, Gutmann DH, Wong M, Abnormal glutamate homeostasis and impaired synaptic plasticity and learning in a mouse model of tuberous sclerosis complex., 2007; Neurobiology of disease. 28(2) 184-96. PMID: 17714952

Gurnett CA, Dobbs MB, Keppel CR, Pincus ER, Jansen LA, Bowcock AM, Additional evidence of a locus for complex febrile and afebrile seizures on chromosome 12q22-23.3., 2006; Neurogenetics. 8(1) 61-3. PMID: 16972079

Jansen LA, Uhlmann EJ, Crino PB, Gutmann DH, Wong M, Epileptogenesis and reduced inward rectifier potassium current in tuberous sclerosis complex-1-deficient astrocytes., 2006; Epilepsia. 46(12) 1871-80. PMID: 16393152

Wong M, Ess KC, Uhlmann EJ, Jansen LA, Li W, Crino PB, Mennerick S, Yamada KA, Gutmann DH, Impaired glial glutamate transport in a mouse tuberous sclerosis epilepsy model., 2003; Annals of neurology. 54(2) 251-6. PMID: 12891680