Philip H. Iffland, PhD

BA - Zoology; Miami University - 2009

MA - Biology; Kent State University - 2012

Ph.D - Cellular and Molecular Biology; Cleveland Clinic/Kent State Collaborative Doctoral Program - 2015

Postdoctoral Fellowship - Molecular Neuroscience; Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University - 2017

MS- Entrepreneurship with a concentration in Scientific and Medical Innovation; University of Maryland, Baltimore- 2025 

Dr. Iffland is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. His research involves using in vivo and in vitro methods to functionally validate and define the pathophysiological consequence of mutations associated with cortical malformations, epilepsy, and other rare neurodevelopmental disorders. Disorders studied in the Iffland lab include focal cortical dysplasia, tuberous sclerosis complex, hemimegalencephaly, megalencephaly, and ultra-rare genetic forms of autism spectrum disorder and epilepsy.

Dr. Iffland is particularly interested in mutations in the amino acid regulatory arm of the mTOR pathway (e.g., DEPDC5 and NPRL3; "GATORopathies") and how they impact neuronal morphology, function, and brain development. In addition he has interest in changes in protein expression and metabolism that occur as a result of mTOR pathway hyperactivation and how those changes contribute to cortical lesion formation and epileptogenesis. The lab also has a specific interest in TANC2-related disorder (TRD)- an ultra-rare neurodevelopmental disorder with an unknown disease mechanism.

Several technical approaches used in the lab include live-cell imaging, multi-well multielectrode array, in utero electroporation, long-term video-EEG recording in rodents, morphometry, cell signaling assays, and metabolic assays (Seahorse).,

Cortical malformations, epilepsy, GATORopathies, mTORopathies, hemimegalencephaly, focal cortical dysplasia, PMSE, KPTN, TANC2-related disorder

*Rawlins LE,*Iffland PH 2^nd, Page J, Flessner RZ, Elziny SM, et. al. Elucidating the clinical spectrum and neurodevelopmental pathogenesis of KPTN-related disorder. Annals of Neurology. 2025 *Co-first author.

Iffland PH 2^nd, et. al. Mouse and cellular models of KPTN related disorder implicate mTOR signaling in cognitive and progressive overgrowth phenotypes. Brain. 2023.

Park SM, Roache CE, Iffland PH 2^nd, Moldenhauer HJ, Matychak KK, Plante AE, et. al. BK channel properties correlate with neurobehavioral severity in three KCNMA1-linked channelopathy mouse models. eLife. 2022. (Cover article).

Iffland PH 2^nd, Carson V, Bordey A, Crino PB. GATORopathies: the role of amino acid regulatory gene mutations in epilepsy and cortical malformation. Epilepsia. 2019; 60 (11): 2163-2173. (Cover article)

Iffland PH 2^nd, Baybis M, Leventer R, Lockhart PJ, Crino PB. DEPDC5 and NPRL3 knockdown produces mTOR-dependent changes in cellular morphology and function. Neurobiology of Disease. 2018; 114: 184-193.

Iffland PH 2^nd, Crino PB. Focal Cortical Dysplasia: Gene mutations, Cell Signaling and Therapeutic Implications. Annual Reviews of Pathology: Mechanisms of Disease. 2017; 12:547-71.