Jon Kleen, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor
Neurology
School of Medicine

Kleen is a neuroscientist with expertise in signal processing (the use of computers to study patterns in large amounts of data), which he applies to cutting-edge diagnostic approaches and emerging therapies for epilepsy, including brain stimulation. As part of his research, he investigates how memory circuits work in the human brain and why they are disrupted in many people with epilepsy. He also develops technology that integrates brainwave recordings with brain images to help pinpoint where seizures start, with the goal of increasing the chance for future curative surgery in patients whose prior treatments failed.

Kleen is originally from rural Minnesota. He earned a doctorate in neuroscience from Dartmouth College and his medical degree from the Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine. At UCSF, he completed a residency in neurology, serving as chief resident, and a fellowship in epilepsy. He also completed postdoctoral training in human neurophysiology at UCSF. In 2017, he was elected by UCSF medical students for membership in UCSF's chapter of Alpha Omega Alpha for excellence in teaching.

Visit the Kleen Laboratory : kleen.ucsf.edu

• Is It Reasonable to Drive When There Is a (Spike) Train?
  Neurology 2023 Kleen JK, Davis KA
• Intact speech perception after resection of dominant hemisphere primary auditory cortex for the treatment of medically refractory epilepsy: illustrative case.
  Journal of neurosurgery. Case lessons 2022 Hullett PW, Kandahari N, Shih TT, Kleen JK, Knowlton RC, Rao VR, Chang EF
• Bidirectional propagation of low frequency oscillations over the human hippocampal surface.
  Nature communications 2021 Kleen JK, Chung JE, Sellers KK, Zhou J, Triplett M, Lee K, Tooker A, Haque R, Chang EF
• Accuracy of omni-planar and surface casting of epileptiform activity for intracranial seizure localization.
  Epilepsia 2021 Kleen JK, Speidel BA, Baud MO, Rao VR, Ammanuel SG, Hamilton LS, Chang EF, Knowlton RC
• Measuring synchrony in bio-medical timeseries.
  Chaos (Woodbury, N.Y.) 2021 Leguia MG, Rao VR, Kleen JK, Baud MO
• Early seizure spread and epilepsy surgery: A systematic review.
  Epilepsia 2020 Andrews JP, Ammanuel S, Kleen J, Khambhati AN, Knowlton R, Chang EF
• Interictal Epileptiform Discharges and the Quality of Human Intracranial Neurophysiology Data.
  Frontiers in human neuroscience 2020 Ammanuel SG, Kleen JK, Leonard MK, Chang EF
• Prospective validation study of an epilepsy seizure risk system for outpatient evaluation.
  Epilepsia 2019 Chiang S, Goldenholz DM, Moss R, Rao VR, Haneef Z, Theodore WH, Kleen JK, Gavvala J, Vannucci M, Stern JM
• Unsupervised Learning of Spatiotemporal Interictal Discharges in Focal Epilepsy.
  Neurosurgery 2018 Baud MO, Kleen JK, Anumanchipalli GK, Hamilton LS, Tan YL, Knowlton R, Chang EF
• Multi-day rhythms modulate seizure risk in epilepsy.
  Nature communications 2018 Baud MO, Kleen JK, Mirro EA, Andrechak JC, King-Stephens D, Chang EF, Rao VR
• The nociferous influence of interictal discharges on memory.
  Brain : a journal of neurology 2017 Kleen JK, Kirsch HE
• Chronic ambulatory electrocorticography from human speech cortex.
  NeuroImage 2017 Rao VR, Leonard MK, Kleen JK, Lucas BA, Mirro EA, Chang EF
• Progress in Epilepsy: Latest Waves of Discovery.
  JAMA neurology 2017 Kleen JK, Lowenstein DH
• Injection Therapy for Headache and Facial Pain.
  Oral and maxillofacial surgery clinics of North America 2016 Kleen JK, Levin M
• Oscillation Phase Locking and Late ERP Components of Intracranial Hippocampal Recordings Correlate to Patient Performance in a Working Memory Task.
  Frontiers in human neuroscience 2016 Kleen JK, Testorf ME, Roberts DW, Scott RC, Jobst BJ, Holmes GL, Lenck-Santini PP
• Regulatory T cells are not a strong predictor of survival for patients with glioblastoma.
  Neuro-oncology 2015 Thomas AA, Fisher JL, Rahme GJ, Hampton TH, Baron U, Olek S, Schwachula T, Rhodes CH, Gui J, Tafe LJ, Tsongalis GJ, Lefferts JA, Wishart H, Kleen J, Miller M, Whipple CA, de Abreu FB, Ernstoff MS, …
• Hippocampal interictal epileptiform activity disrupts cognition in humans.
  Neurology 2013 Kleen JK, Scott RC, Holmes GL, Roberts DW, Rundle MM, Testorf M, Lenck-Santini PP, Jobst BC
• Enhanced oscillatory activity in the hippocampal-prefrontal network is related to short-term memory function after early-life seizures.
  The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience 2011 Kleen JK, Wu EX, Holmes GL, Scott RC, Lenck-Santini PP
• Early-life seizures produce lasting alterations in the structure and function of the prefrontal cortex.
  Epilepsy & behavior : E&B 2011 Kleen JK, Sesqué A, Wu EX, Miller FA, Hernan AE, Holmes GL, Scott RC
• Neuroaminidase reduces interictal spikes in a rat temporal lobe epilepsy model.
  Epilepsia 2011 Isaev D, Zhao Q, Kleen JK, Lenck-Santini PP, Adstamongkonkul D, Isaeva E, Holmes GL
• Taming TLR4 may ease seizures.
  Nature medicine 2010 Kleen JK, Holmes GL
• Hippocampal interictal spikes disrupt cognition in rats.
  Annals of neurology 2010 Kleen JK, Scott RC, Holmes GL, Lenck-Santini PP
• Brain inflammation initiates seizures.
  Nature medicine 2008 Kleen JK, Holmes GL
• Chronic stress impairs spatial memory and motivation for reward without disrupting motor ability and motivation to explore.
  Behavioral neuroscience 2006 Kleen JK, Sitomer MT, Killeen PR, Conrad CD
• Combination of high fat diet and chronic stress retracts hippocampal dendrites.
  Neuroreport 2005 Baran SE, Campbell AM, Kleen JK, Foltz CH, Wright RL, Diamond DM, Conrad CD