We Fund Research That Makes an Impact

CURE Epilepsy was founded in 1998 by a group of parents desperate for answers to save their children. Since then, we have led a dramatic shift in epilepsy research from simply treating seizures to improving our understanding of underlying mechanisms and causes so that cures and preventative strategies can be found.

From creating groundbreaking initiatives on SUDEP and genetics to developing a team-science approach to study post-traumatic epilepsy for the U.S. Department of Defense, we remain laser-focused on funding research to find the cures for epilepsy.

Hear from both researchers and families affected by epilepsy to learn about some of the issues affecting the epilepsy community–and how we’re working to solve them.

Treatment-Resistant Epilepsy

Over one-third of all epilepsy is treatment-resistant. In 2011, using a CURE Epilepsy Challenge Award funded by the Julie’s Hope Award, Dr. Brian Litt was able to break new ground in the field of implantable devices to detect and treat epilepsy. Dr. Litt shares the tangible results of his research and breakthroughs that continue today as a result of this grant.

SUDEP

Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) can happen to anyone, but there are some risk factors that if you know about you can try and mitigate. Hear from Anthony Maffie’s mother and aunt about what they wish they knew, and learn about research that Dr. Nuria Lacuey is currently doing to better understand breathing and stimulation techniques that may help prevent SUDEP in the future.

Treatment-Resistant Epilepsy

Channing Seideman shares her journey with refractory or treatment-resistant epilepsy, how it impacts her day-to-day, and the research that Dr. Detlev Boison is doing to understand how to block the enzyme that prevents the brain’s natural seizure terminator, adenosine, from working properly.

Post-Traumatic Epilepsy

Between 2000 and 2020, over 400,000 active service members sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI). One of these service members was Pat Horan, whose TBI became PTE. Dr. Pavel Klein is doing research as part of the CURE Epilepsy PTE Initiative to understand who is more at risk of TBI becoming PTE and pave the way to develop therapies to prevent this from occurring.

Faces of Epilepsy

One in 26 Americans will develop epilepsy in their lifetime and 65 million people worldwide are affected by epilepsy. These are the “faces of epilepsy.”

 

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Grants Awarded