Jeffrey Loeb

Dr. Jeffrey Loeb (Photo: Jenny Fontaine/University of Illinois Chicago)

Dr. Jeffrey Loeb is the John S. Garvin Endowed Chair in Neurology and professor and head of neurology and rehabilitation in the UIC College of Medicine.

As a clinician, Loeb specializes in the evaluation and treatment of epilepsy. He is an expert in the measurement and assessment of epileptic electrical activity in the brain using EEG, or electroencephalography, and in the medical and surgical management of patients with hard-to-control seizures.

Loeb has pioneered a unique systems-biology approach to diagnose and treat disease by analyzing gene and protein expression in the brain and spinal cord. This technique has revealed previously unknown “micro-lesions” in the brain tissue of patients with neocortical epilepsy. He is using the same approach to investigate ALS and several potential treatments for ALS, multiple sclerosis, pain, spinal cord injury, brain cancers and Alzheimer’s disease.

In 2017, Loeb established the University of Illinois NeuroRepository in the College of Medicine, which collects tissue samples from patients treated for neurological disorders at UI Health. Each specimen will be linked to clinical, radiological, electrical, histological and genetic information — “big data” that requires advanced computing hardware and software to store and query.

Loeb is also a leading researcher in growth-factor signaling in motor neurons, and he has developed a patented drug-targeting technology that could significantly improve the treatment of brain disorders and cancer.