John D. Rolston, 
"Multielectrode Interactions with the Normal and Epileptic Brain" 
2009 (Emory University MD/PhD dissertation, Co-advised with Robert Gross)

Abstract

Multielectrode recordings provide the unique ability to observe the brain’s dynamics at multiple scales and from multiple locations. Using multielectrode arrays, I have carried out several investigations of both the normal and epileptic brain, and developed new technology to more easily interact with neural tissue.
First, using dissociated cultures of cortical neurons, I used a template-matching algorithm to uncover evidence of precisely timed repeating sequences of neuronal action potentials. These sequences, which have been observed in the intact brain and brain slices, are a potential mechanism of neural information processing.
My other experiments involved freely moving animals. Based on prior work with cell cultures, it is believed that closed-loop brain stimulation can suppress epileptiform activity in animals with seizures. Before this hypothesis could be tested, I had to develop a new recording and stimulation system capable of closed-loop microstimulation, along with new signal processing algorithms to improve the data we observed. The resulting system, NeuroRighter, is a freely available, open source platform with several advantages over existing commercial systems (none of which is capable of closed-loop stimulation).
With the new recording and stimulation system in place, I was able to characterize in detail the field potential and action potential dynamics underlying interictal spikes and seizures in the tetanus toxin model of temporal lobe epilepsy. Specifically, I found evidence of high-frequency oscillations in this model, which were restricted to interictal spikes and commensurate with entrained bursts of multiunit activity.
While distributed stimulation was ultimately ineffective at suppressing seizures and epileptiform bursting with the parameters we tested, we were nevertheless able to control neural activity in epileptic animals in novel ways. In particular, we provided the first evidence that high-frequency oscillations could be directly evoked with microstimulation. Such stimulation has potential applications in presurgical screening for epileptiform onset zones.