2020

CURE Epilepsy Research Continuity Fund

Abnormal Myelin in Absence Epilepsy: Cause and Functional Impact

Juliet Knowles, MD, PhD
Stanford University
 

Certain changes in the brain can lead to the development of seizures. With this project, Dr. Knowles and her team will explore the potential role of white matter in the brain, otherwise known as myelin, in this process. Myelin forms a covering around neurons and alters the speed that information is transferred between areas of the brain. Dr. Knowles and her team will determine if seizures cause myelin abnormalities and if abnormal myelin contributes to the development of epilepsy and associated cognitive impairment. This work can help to pinpoint new therapeutic targets for multiple forms of epilepsy. Dr. Knowles and her team had made significant progress in this project prior to COVID-19 related shutdowns.

Dr. Knowles work is funded by CURE Epilepsy through a generous grant from the Ravichandran Foundation. The CURE Epilepsy Research Continuity Fund will help them finish experiments that were on hold due to the shutdown.

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More Research in the Area of Mechanisms

Virtual Stimulation of Interictal EEG and MEG Networks to Measure Cortical Excitability in Epileptogenic Networks

Rachel June Smith, PhD

University of Alabama at Birmingham

The Joseph Gomoll Foundation
Tribute

Convergence of High Frequency Oscillations with Genetic and Epigenetic Profiles in Epileptic Networks: Towards Novel Diagnostics in Focal Epilepsies

Gemma Carvill, PhD

Northwestern University

Multimodal Profiling of Neuronal Morphology, Physiology and Gene Expression in Focal Cortical Dysplasia

Cathryn Cadwell MD, PhD

University of California, San Francisco