Dravet Syndrome Foundation & CURE Award
Sebastian Maier, MD, PhD / University Hospital of Wuerzburg
Drs. Maier and Mantegazza will study the role of this sodium channel subtype in the heart in a model of Dravet syndrome in order to investigate the occurrence and mechanism of arrhythmias and their possible involvement in SUDEP.
The Leisher Family Award
Torbjorn Tomson, MD, PhD / Karolinska Institutet /Uppsala University
Drs. Tomson and Mattson will utilize three nation-wide Swedish registries that offer unique opportunities to study the association between drug treatment and risk of sudden unexplained death in epilepsy (SUDEP).
Innovator Awards
Alexander Rotenberg, MD, PhD / Children’s Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School
This team proposes to test a novel application of ceftriaxone, acutely after brain injury when the biochemical changes leading to post-traumatic epilepsy are first emerging.
Innovator Awards
Lionel Carmant, MD / University of Montreal
By injecting RE patients’ blood cells into severely immunologically-compromised mice, the team is able to induce seizures and produce pathological findings in the mouse brain similar to pathological lesions observed in children with RE.
Challenge Awards, Funded by the Falk Medical Research Trust
Steven Roper, MD / University of Florida
This project offers a new direction for treatment of intractable epilepsies using targeted cellular therapies. If this research is successful, the use of adult human donor cells will facilitate the translation of this approach to treatments for individuals with epilepsy due to CD.
Challenge Awards, Funded by the Brighter Future Award
Gary Yellen, PhD / Harvard Medical School
The success of dietary treatment (such as the ketogenic diet) for many of these individuals suggests a powerful connection between metabolism and seizures. However, these diets are difficult to maintain, spurring a search for alternative ways to manipulate metabolism in order to prevent seizures.
Prevention of Epilepsy After Brain Injury Award, Funded by the Friends for a Cure Award
Istvan Mody, PhD / UCLA School of Medicine
Dr. Mody has developed a novel and specific cerebrovascular trauma model in mice that reduces the blood supply to brain areas heavily involved in the genesis of epilepsy, and has preliminary data consistent with the development of epilepsy after such trauma.
Multidisciplinary Award, Funded by the Heldman Award
Amy Brooks-Kayal, MD / University of Colorado Denver
Using a combination of studies in the laboratory and in animal models of epilepsy, they will use specific blockers of BDNF and the JAK/STAT pathway to reduce or prevent epilepsy development and/or progression.
Taking Flight Award
Hongtao Ma, PhD / Weill Cornell Medical College
The CURE-funded research will focus on the relationship between the electrical aspect of seizure onset and spread of the seizures to other brain areas, as well as the changes in blood flow in the brain associated with seizures; both in the seizure focus and the surrounding normal brain.
