Epilepsy research pays off
Wayne State student awarded fellowship from Epilepsy Foundation of America
Natasha Dado / For The South End
Issue date: 5/28/08 Section: News
Though seizures are often affiliated with the signs of epilepsy, it is one of the disease's lesser known symptoms that has a Wayne State M.D./Ph.D. student striving for a cure.
Daniel Barkmeier's research with animal models that simulate epileptic events in the brain has led to a $20,000 predoctoral fellowship from the Epilepsy Foundation of America. Fellowship funds will be put towards the launch of an investigation of an integral but little understood aspect of epilepsy - the minor, more frequent discharges of abnormal brain activity that occur in between seizures, called interictal spikes.
Barkmeier is currently developing an electrical model that will simulate interictal spikes. The development will help determine whether this type of brain activity can solely induce the gene changes held accountable for epilepsy.
"The closer the animal model is to the human disorder, the more likely a new drug developed using that model will actually work in patients with epilepsy," Barkmeier said in a press release. "While seizures are what you think of clinically with epilepsy, they don't occur that often. Interictal spikes are much smaller, but can occur one hundred times an hour; multiple times a minute."
Barkmeier believes the frequent spikes are essential to understanding the abnormal connections in the brain.
While conducting research at Wayne State's School of Medicine, Barkmeier works with Dr. Jeffery Loeb, associate professor of neurology and the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program, and associate director of The Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics.
According to Loeb, past research has considered that mechanisms behind interictal spikes have the potential to disclose valuable information pertaining to epilepsy.
"Studies on human epileptic brain tissues have identified a set of genes that are activated in the epileptic parts of the brain when compared to nonepileptic parts of the same patient's brain," Loeb said in a press release. "However, the amount of gene activation did not correlate with seizure activity, but with the amount of interictal spiking in that area of the brain."
Loeb believes the addition of interictal spikes into the epilepsy model may have the potential to lead researchers into the discovery of prevention, treatment and perhaps a cure.
Daniel Barkmeier's research with animal models that simulate epileptic events in the brain has led to a $20,000 predoctoral fellowship from the Epilepsy Foundation of America. Fellowship funds will be put towards the launch of an investigation of an integral but little understood aspect of epilepsy - the minor, more frequent discharges of abnormal brain activity that occur in between seizures, called interictal spikes.
Barkmeier is currently developing an electrical model that will simulate interictal spikes. The development will help determine whether this type of brain activity can solely induce the gene changes held accountable for epilepsy.
"The closer the animal model is to the human disorder, the more likely a new drug developed using that model will actually work in patients with epilepsy," Barkmeier said in a press release. "While seizures are what you think of clinically with epilepsy, they don't occur that often. Interictal spikes are much smaller, but can occur one hundred times an hour; multiple times a minute."
Barkmeier believes the frequent spikes are essential to understanding the abnormal connections in the brain.
While conducting research at Wayne State's School of Medicine, Barkmeier works with Dr. Jeffery Loeb, associate professor of neurology and the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program, and associate director of The Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics.
According to Loeb, past research has considered that mechanisms behind interictal spikes have the potential to disclose valuable information pertaining to epilepsy.
"Studies on human epileptic brain tissues have identified a set of genes that are activated in the epileptic parts of the brain when compared to nonepileptic parts of the same patient's brain," Loeb said in a press release. "However, the amount of gene activation did not correlate with seizure activity, but with the amount of interictal spiking in that area of the brain."
Loeb believes the addition of interictal spikes into the epilepsy model may have the potential to lead researchers into the discovery of prevention, treatment and perhaps a cure.
Be the first to comment on this story