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Carl L. Faingold, Ph.D. is a Neuroscientist and a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Pharmacology of Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield, Illinois (www.siumed.edu/pharm/home.html) where he was a founding faculty member. He has had an extensive career as a medical and graduate student educator as well as a researcher into brain mechanisms. His research specializes in the study of the actions of drugs on brain activity at the level of the single neuron as it relates to networks of neurons in awake behaving animals. Dr. Faingold has recently (2014) published a book with co-editor, Hal Blumenfeld, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Neurology, Neuroscience and Neurosurgery at Yale University School of Medicine. This book is titled Neuronal Networks in Brain Function, CNS Disorders, and Therapeutics (Academic Press/Elsevier, 2014, store.elsevier.com/Neuronal-Networks-in-Brain-Function). This book is an iconoclastic approach to understanding how the brain normally operates in the awake and drug free condition and how these operations change in diseases and with effective treatment. This book approaches the brain in a unique way, based on neuronal networks and emphasizes the interactions between networks that occur in the intact behaving animal. The 33 chapter book was written by 53 authors from 7 countries and comprises nearly 500 pages. This volume brings together a wide variety of research approaches over many fields in brain research. The book culminates in proposing a new global framework for understanding of how drugs that affect the brain may work on neurons in specific network sites in the intact individual. The book emphasizes the critical importance of the correct therapeutic dosage in determining the site and mechanism of the action of these drugs, since using excessive doses has been and remains a common problem in neuroscience research especially that which is done in isolated cellular systems outside of the intact animal in brain slice or neuronal culture. The early chapters in the book cover the methods used to explore network function in the intact animal or human brain, including brain imaging. The next group of chapters discusses the specific mechanisms that control networks, including brain neurochemicals and the interaction of neurons with other cells in brain, such as glia cells. The following group of chapters describes the operational mechanisms of specific normal brain networks such as those that mediate hearing and vision. Networks involved in memory and sleep as well as motor movement and pain are also covered. Some of the networks that are important in psychiatric and neurological illnesses, including anxiety disorders and Parkinson’s disease, are also included. Epilepsy, which is Dr. Faingold’s main research interest, is extensively covered, and the major neuronal mechanisms involved in the ability of the neurons within specific networks to undergo changing patterns of response based on experience are also a major topic. Finally, the neuronal network basis for drug therapy of central nervous system disorders as well as electrical stimulation therapies, applying the concept of emergent properties of neurons (1) in the networks, is extensively discussed. The final chapter brings all this information together in a blueprint for improving the therapy of human brain disorders by using combined brain imaging, electrical stimulation and pharmacological treatments based on neuronal network data that Dr. Faingold and Dr. Blumenfeld propose for improving therapy in patients based on an integrated application of the wide array of knowledge that is currently available, as thoroughly documented in this volume. Dr. Faingold is a graduate of the University of Illinois (B.S., Pharmacy) and Northwestern University (Ph.D., Pharmacology). He is a long-time member of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET www.aspet.org), the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA www.rsoa.org), the American Epilepsy Society (AES, (www.aesnet.org) and the Society for Neuroscience (SfN www.sfn.org), as well as several other national and international scientific organizations. A current major research direction in Dr. Faingold’s lab is in the area of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), which is a devastating and relatively rare problem that can occur in patients with epilepsy (2). This problem is important, since it is second only to stroke among disorders of the nervous system in the number of patient years lost due to SUDEP (3).  Since first publishing about a mouse model of SUDEP in 2007 in DBA mice (4), the lab of Dr. Faingold has explored the role of brain chemicals, serotonin and adenosine, in potential preventative treatments for SUDEP in these mice (4), including a possible role of agents that enhance the action of serotonin in SUDEP prevention. These agents include selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) which prevent SUDEP in mice with some evidence of potential usefulness in human epileptic patients as well (5). Dr. Faingold has been invited to present this work internationally as well as nationally, including most recently at the Partners Against Mortality in Epilepsy (PAME) Meeting in Minneapolis, MN in June of 2014 (http://pame.aesnet.org) and the Investigator Workshop at the American Epilepsy Society (AES) annual meeting in Seattle, WA in December of 2014. His lab has published several recent papers on the subject of SUDEP prevention in two mouse models of SUDEP in DBA/1 and DBA/2 mice (6, 7). In addition to teaching medical and graduate students for many years, Dr. Faingold is active in educational publishing in pharmacology. As a member of the American Medical School Pharmacology Chairs (AMSPC) he has taken part in the writing of the AMSPC Knowledge Objectives in Pharmacology and was co-editor with Richard Eisenberg, Ph.D. of the 2012 update and expansion of these pharmacology teaching objectives (http://www.amspc.org/ PHARMACOLOGY RESOURCES). Dr. Faingold also served as co-editor of Brody’s Human Pharmacology (http://www.us.elsevierhealth.com/pharmacology/brody-human-pharmacology-e-book-e-book/9780323075756/ Mosby, 2010) with Drs. Lynn Wecker, George Dunaway, Lynn Crespo and Stephanie Watts. Dr. Faingold was named Distinguished Scholar of the entire Southern Illinois University in 2009 and a video of his acceptance research talk can be found on iTunes University (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/2009-siuc-outstanding-scholar/id390532100?i=86703699&mt=2). Early reviews of Dr. Faingold’s and Dr. Blumenfeld’s recent network book have been highly favorable: 1) “The book is a welcome and scholarly recognition of the growing importance of networks in neuroscience and neurological care.”  “Students and practitioners of Neuroscience, Neurology, Psychiatry, Pharmacology and Information Science as applied to the brain will find this to be a useful summary of systems data and a new conceptual framework.” Robert S. Fisher, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Neurology, Stanford University. 2) “This volume, edited by Carl Faingold and Hal Blumenfeld, focuses on neural networks – what they are, how we study them, and why they are important for understanding normal brain function and treating neuropathologies. The topic is timely and important. Indeed, there is a wealth of information (and a large number of ongoing studies) that deals with the identification and understanding of brain networks, and this volume attempts to bring much of that information together in a coherent package.” “Of particular importance is the concept of “emergent properties” of a network – characteristics of a network’s function that are not observed in the member elements and may not be predictable simply by looking at the members of the network.” “…research on network modulation/disruption will contribute powerful new tools to our therapeutic armamentarium.” Philip A. Schwartzkroin, Ph.D., Professor of Neurology, University of California, Davis. 3) “…this book will be useful and important to anyone interested in mammalian systems neurobiology, and especially to those to whom basic science/clinical implications matter deeply.” “Many of the chapters provide outstanding thoughtful, timely, and information-packed reviews of interesting topics.” Roger D. Traub, M.D., Dept. Physical Sciences, IBM.

Dr. Faingold has published over 100 research papers in neuroscience journals (see further reading below) as well as more than 30 book chapters and review articles. He has also presented many talks at professional meetings, which have included recent invitations to Oxford University in England and Salamanca University in Spain. References 1.	C. L. Faingold. Emergent properties of CNS neuronal networks as targets for pharmacology: application to anticonvulsant drug action. Prog.Neurobiol. 72 (1):55-85, 2004. 2.	L. Nashef, E. L. So, P. Ryvlin, and T. Tomson. Unifying the definitions of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy. Epilepsia 53 (2):227-233, 2012. 3.	D. J. Thurman, D. C. Hesdorffer, and J. A. French. Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy: Assessing the public health burden. Epilepsia,. 2014 Jun 5. doi: 10.1111/epi.12666.2014. 4.	S. Tupal and C. L. Faingold. Evidence supporting a role of serotonin in modulation of sudden death induced by seizures in DBA/2 mice. Epilepsia 47 (1):21-26, 2006. 5.	L. M. Bateman, C. S. Li, T. C. Lin, and M. Seyal. Serotonin reuptake inhibitors are associated with reduced severity of ictal hypoxemia in medically refractory partial epilepsy. Epilepsia 51 (10):2211-2214, 2010. 6.	C. L. Faingold and M. Randall. Effects of age, sex, and sertraline administration on seizure-induced respiratory arrest in the DBA/1 mouse model of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). Epilepsy Behav. 28 (1):78-82, 2013. 7.	C. L. Faingold, S. P. Kommajosyula, X. Long, K. Plath, and M. Randall. Serotonin and sudden death: Differential effects of serotonergic drugs on seizure-induced respiratory arrest in DBA/1 mice. Epilepsy Behav. 37C:198-203, 2014. Further reading Uteshev, V.V., S. Tupal, Y. Mhaskar, and C. L. Faingold. Abnormal serotonin receptor expression in DBA/2 mice associated with susceptibility to sudden death due to respiratory arrest. Epilepsy Res. 88, pp. 183-188, 2010 Faingold, C.L., Tupal, S. and Randall, M. Prevention of seizure-induced sudden death in a chronic SUDEP model by semichronic administration of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. Epilepsy Behav., 22:186-190, 2011. Faingold, C.L., Randall, M. Mhaskar, Y. and Uteshev, V. V.. Differences in serotonin receptor expression in the brainstem may explain the differential ability of a serotonin agonist to block seizure-induced sudden death in DBA/2 vs. DBA/1 mice. Brain Res., 1418:104-110, 2011. Faingold CL, Tupal S, Mhaskar Y, Uteshev VV. DBA mice as models of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy. IN: Sudden Death in Epilepsy: Forensic and Clinical Issue", (C. Lathers, P. Schraeder, M. Bungo, J. Leestma, editors), Taylor and Francis, 657-674, 2010. Faingold CL. Brainstem networks: reticulo-cortical synchronization in generalized convulsive seizures. In: Noebels JL, Avoli M, Rogawski MA, Olsen RW, Delgado-Escueta AV, eds. Jasper's Basic Mechanisms of the Epilepsies. 4th ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2012: 257-271. Bethesda (MD): National Center for Biotechnology Information (US). Available from: http://preview.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK82044/. Feng, H.J., Faingold, C.L. Ketamine in mood disorders and epilepsy. In: Costa A and Villalba E, eds. Horizons in Neuroscience Research, Vol. 10. P. 103-122, Nova Science Publishers, New York, 2013.