CURE Epilepsy Award
Sonja Broer, PhD, Florian Heyd, PhD, Rosella Di Sapia, PhD / Free University of Berlin
The ASO developed by this team activates a “cold shock” protein named RBM3 that protects brain cells—without needing to cool the body.
Taking Flight Award
Mahboubeh Ahmadi, PhD / University of California, Riverside
This project will study how epilepsy changes the way CCK interneurons work and whether fixing their activity can reduce seizures and improve memory, motivation, and behavior.
Taking Flight Award
Aswathy AmmothumKandy, PhD / University of Southern California
In this project, she and her team will study why these cells stay in a disease state in epilepsy and look for ways to help them return to normal.
Taking Flight Award
Alex Felix, PhD / University of Pennsylvania
The goal of this project is to develop a novel Antisense Oligonucleotide (ASO) strategy to treat DEE syndromes by changing how certain genes are processed within the cell.
CURE Epilepsy Award
Christos Lisgaras, PhD / Nathan Kline Institute
Dr. Lisgaras and his team will test whether precise control of HFOs can provide powerful new therapeutic options. If successful, this work could pave the way for innovative treatments that improve seizure control and transform epilepsy care.
Catalyst Award
Henrik Klitgaard, PhD & Janine Erler, PhD / Neumirna Therapeutics
This team is working on developing NMT.001, a new antisense oligneucleotide therapy for the treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy.
Catalyst Award
Lori Isom, PhD / University of Michigan
The goal of this project is to develop a gene replacement therapy for SCN1B-related DEE.
Rare Epilepsy Partnership Award
Berrak Ugur, PhD / Yale University
Dr. Berrak’s team will use patient derived neuronal cellular and 3D brain-in-a-dish (organoids) models to examine where the FAM177A1 protein is located in neurons, protein it interacts with, and how its loss may affect neuronal growth and function.
Rare Epilepsy Partnership Award
Luis Williams, PhD / Quiver Biosciences
They will then test novel antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) targeting each gene and investigate whether ASOs targeting KCNT1 can rescue the electrical properties of SCN8A and vice versa.
