CURE Epilepsy Award
Jordan Farrell, PhD / Boston Children's Hospital
Using newly developed tools, Dr. Farrell’s team will study changes in endocannabinoid levels during seizures and test whether newly developed drugs can restore balanced endocannabinoid signaling.
CURE Epilepsy Award
Cameron Metcalf, PhD & Mingnan Chen, PhD / University of Utah
Drs. Metcalf and Chen will use a model of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE) to study specific immune cell populations and target certain immune cell types as a proof-of-concept approach to prevent seizures and/or reduce disease severity.
CURE Epilepsy Award
Heather Mefford, MD, PhD / St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
To better understand how these changes affect brain development, Dr. Mefford’s team will study 3D disease-in-a-dish models (called brain organoids) made from patient cells.
CURE Epilepsy Award
Avtar Roopra, PhD / University of Wisconsin-Madison
The team plans to study how long a drug’s protective effects last after a single, short-term treatment, and check for any long-lasting side effects.
Taking Flight Award
James Niemeyer, PhD / Weill Medical College, Cornell University
Dr. Niemeyer will use a novel epilepsy model and advanced imaging techniques to find out when and how different brain areas are recruited to form a harmful network.
Catalyst Award
Ellen Bubrick, MD / Brigham and Women's Hospital
In this project, they will gather data on the best dose to use in larger studies to see how well the therapy works in suppressing seizures.
Catalyst Award
Janet van Eersel, PhD / Macquarie University
In this study, the team will optimize a gene therapy for potential human clinical studies.
Rare Epilepsy Partnership Award
Naomi Dirckx, PhD / Washington University in St. Louis
Genetic changes in the solute carrier family 13 member 5 (SLC13A5) gene, a protein that transports citrate (a key nutrient) into cells, can cause epilepsy starting at a young age. Children with these genetic changes develop seizures within a day of being born and have neurodevelopmental delays. Dr. Dirckx will study how mutations in SLC13A5 affect how the brain processes energy and nutrients.
Rare Epilepsy Partnership Award
Heather Mefford, MD, PhD / St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
In this study, Dr. Mefford and her team aim to study certain episignatures in different cell types to learn how these patterns relate to the problems seen in CHD2-related disorders.
