ERIC LANCASTER, MD

THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

Dr. Lancaster is an academic neurologist with expertise in antibody-mediated neurological disorders. His research concerns autoimmune disorders characterized by antibodies to important brain proteins including the GABA-B receptor, the voltage-gated potassium channel complex, the glycine receptor, and metabotropic glutamate receptors. Patients with these disorders, many of which were discovered by his group, have encephalitis, peripheral nerve hyperexcitability, stiff person syndrome, or other neurological disorders. In his lab, he currently is investigating how antibodies to the GABA-B receptor, and two members of the voltage-gated-potassium channel complex (LGI1 and Caspr2) cause disease. He is also leading a Precision Medicine project to improve autoantibody testing for patients with encephalitis, and they have developed a system to integrate clinical and research studies for these patients. His clinical practice is based in the Center for Autoimmune Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania, where he sees patients with these complex autoantibody disorders. In addition to their studies of CNS autoimmunity, they are examining autoantibodies to peripheral nerve proteins in autoimmune causes of peripheral neuropathy such as Guillain-Barre Syndrome and CIDP.