Inflammation’s Role in Epilepsy and How it Might be Prevented

This week on Seizing Life epilepsy researcher Dr. Nicholas Varvel discusses the connection between acquired epilepsy and inflammation in the brain. Dr. Varvel explains how and why some people may develop epilepsy following a brain injury, infection, or illness, and shares how discoveries made through his research could lead to new treatments for preventing the onset of seizures.

Dr. Varvel is an Assistant Professor in the Pharmacology department of Emory University and the recipient of a 2019 CURE Epilepsy Award. The research that he and his team conducted under the two-year CURE Epilepsy grant led to additional funding from the NIH. Dr. Varvel and his team aim to build on their discoveries and move toward clinical trials with the goal of identifying new drugs that may prevent the development of epilepsy and the comorbidities, such as impacts on memory and cognition, that often accompany the onset of seizures. Learn about Dr. Varvel’s discovery of monocytes in the brain, and how those monocytes may be a key to unlocking some of the mysteries of epilepsy.

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