Taking Flight Award
Stuart Cain, PhD / University of British Columbia
The goals of this project are to define the specific brain regions that promote spreading depression into the brainstem and to test whether spreading depression and death can be affected by a new, experimental, seizure-suppressing drug.
CURE Epilepsy Award
Avtar Roopra, PhD / University of Wisconsin – Madison
Dr. Roopra’s data suggests that a Master Regulator called Polycomb (Pc) is induced in multiple epilepsy models and suppresses a GABAA receptor gene called delta that is normally required for tonic inhibition.
Innovator Award
Kevin Staley, MD / Massachusetts General Hospital
The team will focus on actin, a highly charged structural molecule that likely can act as a “salt substitute”. If they find that brain cells alter the effect of GABA by changing local actin, they can target this mechanism to treat epilepsy.
Traumatic Brain Injury Awards
Richard J. Staba, PhD / University of California
Dr. Staba’s research uses direct brain recordings to characterize very fast electrical events called pathologic high frequency oscillations (pHFOs) that are believed to be responsible for the generation of epilepsy in the brain.
Innovator Award, Funded by the Rock the Block for Pediatric Epilepsy Research Award
Paula Waters, PhD / University of British Columbia/British Columbia Children's Hospital
Paula Waters, together with co-investigators Marion Coulter-Mackie and Sylvia Stockler, is working toward an innovative new treatment for PDE.
Challenge Awards Funded by the People Against Childhood Epilepsy (PACE) & CURE Award
Edward Perez-Reyes, PhD / University of Virginia
The goal of Drs. Perez-Reyes and Kapur’s research is to develop a novel gene therapy tool that will silence hyperactive neurons that cause seizures by selective expression of a potassium leak channel.
Taking Flight Award
Ramon Birnbaum, PhD / Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
Here, we will identify and characterize gene regulatory elements of human inhibitory interneurons that could be associated with infantile spasms.
Prevention of Acquired Epilepsies Awards
Guy McKhann, MD / Columbia University Medical Center
A multidisciplinary team will study a mouse glioma model that closely parallels the human disease to determine when seizures arise, and we will see if we can prevent or treat seizures by blocking the mTOR pathway with an oral drug that is FDA approved for human use.
CURE Epilepsy Award
Amy Wagner, MD / University of Pittsburgh
Dr. Wagner’s team plans to conduct studies that will have a transformative impact on treatment and prevention of PTE for individuals with both civilian and military TBI.
