2020

CURE Epilepsy Research Continuity Fund

Evaluating the Role of Inflammation in Neonatal Epileptogenesis

Adam Numis, MD
University of California, San Francisco
 

Neonatal seizures affect more than 16,000 newborns in the United States per year and are a risk factor for development of post-neonatal epilepsy (PNE), which can be severe and resistant to medical therapies. Risk factors that can predict risk of developing PNE are lacking. Dr. Numis and his team are evaluating the role of inflammation in neonates with seizures. Their work has the potential to 1) identify inflammatory molecules that can predict risk of PNE, thereby immediately informing providers and families of a patient’s individual risk, and 2) reveal new insights in the processes that cause epilepsy in the injured and developing brain, providing evidence for anti-inflammatory therapeutic strategies after brain injury.

Dr. Numis’s study is funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. The CURE Epilepsy Research Continuity Fund will provide Dr. Numis and his team the resources they need to continue this clinical study.