2020

Taking Flight Award

Utilizing Patient Derived Brain Organoids to Model the Differential Effects of SCN8A Mutation on Cortical and Hippocampal Neural Networks

Ranmal Samarasinghe, M.D., Ph.D.
University of California, Los Angeles
 

The goal of Dr. Samarasinghe’s project is to develop and utilize human brain organoids to enhance our understanding and treatment of epilepsy. Human brain organoids are 3D brain-like structures derived from human cells. Dr. Samarasinghe has made brain organoids from the cells of patients with severe epilepsy due to a mutation in the SCN8A gene. He developed these organoids to model different regions of the human brain and observed unique patterns of neuronal activity. For his CURE Epilepsy project, Dr. Samarasinghe will try to uncover the cellular changes that account for these differences in activity and will use the organoids as a model to test anti-seizure medications.

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More Research in the Area of Mechanisms

Gene Therapy for the Catastrophic Type 1 Progressive Myoclonus Epilepsy (EPM1)

Berge Minassian, MD

The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

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