LEFT Left to right: Electrical and computer engineering Ph.D. students Nazifa Tabassum and Karthik Gopalakrishnan with V John Mathews. RIGHT Electroencephalogram data shows normal resting brain activity transform in to an electrical storm during an epileptic seizure. Mathews and his team are developing algorithms to detect and characterize seizure activity from EEG data, with the ultimate goal of predicting seizure onset in real time. path to commercialization. So, knowing that what we do could be used in practice is very satisfying.” BUILDING BETTER ALGORITHMS Mathews and his team improved the company’s seizure detection by developing three algorithms. Performance evaluation of the new algorithms showed both higher sensitivity and lower false alert rates than competing algorithms. Their contributions included a twostage algorithm for seizure detection that focused on electrographically focal seizures; an algorithm for determining the seizure types from EEG data; and an algorithm to improve seizure detection decisions through post-processing the preliminary outputs of the system. To train and test the algorithms, Epitel provided data from over 700 people. Data for each person typically spanned 3 to 6 days of continuous recording. The team attributed the improved performance to three key enhancements. First, their machine learning model included memory at the input that analyzed EEG features from adjacent segments. Secondly, the iterative learning system utilized the decisions made for prior segments. Finally, adding the second stage further analyzed segments in the region where the seizure starts. The combination of all three together provided the best results. BEYOND THE RESULTS “This project provided a great opportunity for the graduate students and postdoctoral researcher to get experience working with a company,” Mathews said. The team included Shini Renjith, who finished her postdoctoral work at Oregon State, and Karthik Gopalakrishnan and Nazifa Tabassum, doctoral students in electrical and computer engineering who are continuing work on the project. This research is focused on seizure detection only, but the team has already started on the next step which is seizure prediction before onset. Mathews says the goal is to give people enough warning prior to an oncoming seizure so they can take precautionary measures. “The efforts not only address a critical gap in epilepsy management but enable the translation of seizure alerting and seizure forecasting into inpatient and outpatient settings,” said Mark Lehmkuhle, founder and CTO of Epitel. 11 OREGON STATE ENGINEERING WINTER 2026
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