Local Epilepsy Charity Visits Downing Street

Awards six new research grants to advance understanding of the condition

A reception held recently at Downing Street, hosted by Under Secretary of State for Life Sciences, George Freeman MP, provided the setting for Chiswick-based Epilepsy Research UK to announce the latest round of research grants for 2016. Prime Minister David Cameron attended the event, coinciding with National Epilepsy Week, and spoke movingly of his own experience as a parent of a child with epilepsy.

Dr Graeme Sills, ERUK Chair of the Board of Trustees, informed the invitees of ERUK’s commitment to fund a total of 6 new research projects vital to furthering our knowledge and understanding of epilepsy; ranging from improving diagnostics to identifying possible future treatments.

Epilepsy research is underfunded in the UK, so the grant awards made by ERUK significantly increase the pool of research being undertaken into this poorly-understood condition. Since its establishment in 2007, ERUK has awarded more than £6.9 million in research funding, which has contributed significantly to improving the lives of people with epilepsy in the UK. There is still a lot of work to do, but the charity is determined in its efforts and hopes one day to see curative treatments for this complex condition.

The recipients of the grant aid for research

Dr Graeme Sills says: “2016 celebrates our 25th Anniversary but there is still much to do to build on the advances of the past 25 years and research remains central to our vision of a future without epilepsy. It gives me great satisfaction to see the positive effect that our research investment has made in a number of areas that are now beginning to have an impact in everyday clinical practice.

"Epilepsy Research UK may be a small player in the global research field but it has a successful track-record of funding the people and the types of projects that are currently at the very forefront of research into the causes, treatments and consequences of epilepsy. We have an obligation to those whose lives have been touched by epilepsy to continue that vital work.”

A 30-month fellowship has been awarded to Dr Sukhvir Wright and colleagues at Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Aston University. The understanding gained from this fellowship will hopefully lead to a refinement of immune-targeting drugs, so that they can be effective in epilepsy with minimal side effects. This will greatly improve the care and quality of life of people who have autoimmune epilepsy

Professor David Wylie, at the University of Edinburgh has been awarded a 24-month project grant to investigate neuronal communication in the hippocampus (an important memory structure in which seizures frequently originate), at both the single cell and neuronal circuit level. It is a knowledge-gaining project, but the findings could potentially pave the way for the development of new epilepsy treatments in the next 10-15 years.

Dr Alfredo Gonzalez-Sulser and colleagues, at the University of Edinburgh have been awarded a 36-month fellowship to investigate whether controlling the activity of entire seizure generating networks, as opposed to just the seizure foci, can be a more effective treatment to block seizures. To do this the team will use the technology of optogenetics which has the potential to be translated to the clinic in the coming years and can also ‘shine a light’ on novel cellular targets to efficiently block seizures for other forms of clinical interventions.

A 24-month pilot grant has been awarded to Professor Liam Gray and his team at Cardiff University. A loss/dysfunction of inhibitory neurons known as interneurons in the hippocampus of the brain is one of the earliest changes in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), and it is central to the imbalance in excitation/inhibition that underlies the condition. This project will explore whether or not interneuron transplantation is feasible in human Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.

Professor Alexander Hammers, King’s College London, has been awarded an 18-month pilot grant to investigate where seizures come from in patients with tuberous sclerosis. Tuberous sclerosis, is a rare genetic condition that causes growths known as ‘tubers’ to develop in different parts of the body. It is present from birth and due to the frequent involvement of the brain, most people with tuberous sclerosis also have epilepsy which is often drug-resistant.

Dr Manuela Pisch and colleagues at University College London and Great Ormond Street Hospital have been awarded a 24-month pilot grant to investigate the sleep problems in infants with epilepsy and their association with socio-cognitive development. Sleep problems early in life are linked to poorer cognitive and social development which can have an enormous impact on a person’s life. Infants with epilepsy often experience sleep problems, but so far the association between epilepsy-related sleep problems and socio-cognitive development has not been investigated in this age group. Dr Pisch’s research aims to address this.

A total of 32.000 people are newly diagnosed with the condition each year (88 a day)and while 60-70% will have their seizures controlled with medication, half will experience significant side effects from the drug regime. There are approximately 1200 epilepsy related deaths a year

May 24, 2016