Recipients of the Epilepsy Canada NEW INVESTIGATOR 2021 Award announced
Three key research projects receive Epilepsy Canada funding. A total of $150,000 invested.
For the first time ever, Epilepsy Canada partnered with CURE Epilepsy in a grant application process for Canadian investigators. With consistent and complementary missions, this was an opportunity for both organizations to promote the best in epilepsy research.
Epilepsy Canada is proud to announce the recipients of the 2021 NEW INVESTIGATOR Award chosen by the Epilepsy Canada Scientific Research Committee under the leadership of Dr. Elizabeth Donner. Following Dr. Donner’s recommendations, The Board of Directors has approved three important research grants at The University of Calgary, The Hospital for Sick Children, and Simon Fraser University. Together, these investigator-initiated grants seek to push the envelope and accelerate promising research leading to disease-modifying breakthroughs for people living with epilepsy.
Gary Collins, President of Epilepsy Canada said, “We are extremely excited about this news. These grants are an incredible opportunity for our organizations to promote the best in epilepsy research.”
The grants announced today are for the following projects:
Engineering a somatic mosaic human brain organoid model of epilepsy - Dr. Yun Li, Scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children, and Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto
• As an Epilepsy Canada New Investigator, Dr. Li will establish a novel mosaic organoid model of epilepsy. Her project is motivated by recent discoveries that many patients suffering from intractable epilepsy have genetic mutations that only occur in some of their brain cells. Understanding how these somatic mosaic mutations cause epilepsy may help us design new therapeutic strategies to treat these patients. By generating somatic mosaic brain organoids that mimic the brains of these epilepsy patients, Dr. Li’s group will establish a new avenue to study the molecular and cellular causes of their seizures, and to identify potential drug candidates.
• NEW INVESTIGATOR 2021 Grant: $50,000
Leveraging a multisource precision medicine and advanced analytics to reduce the burden of pharmacoresistant epilepsy - Dr. Colin Josephson, Assistant Professor of Neurology and Community Health Sciences, O'Brien Institute for Public Health, Centre for Health Informatics & Hotchkiss Brain Institute - University of Calgary
• As an Epilepsy Canada New Investigator, Dr. Josephson’s project has the potential to revolutionize epilepsy care. Currently, we are mired in a ‘trial-and-error’ approach that leaves patients susceptible to the risk of ongoing seizures, side-effects, and increased costs as we attempt to find the right medication for the right patient with few tools to guide us. Dr. Josephson’s approach, referred to as ‘precision medicine’ can allow him to use a particular patients’ unique characteristics to find the right medication for the patient, permitting him to quickly get their seizures under control all while minimizing the physical and economic burden. The goal of his project is ultimately to design such a precision medicine model that can be used to counsel an individual patient about the likelihood of seizure freedom. Once validated, these models will be used to educate patients about their likelihood of seizure-freedom and inform future studies that aim to guide management of predicting response to specific antiseizure drugs.
• NEW INVESTIGATOR 2021 Grant: $50,000
Investigating lysosome activation as a driver of pediatric epilepsy using human cell models - Dr. Lisa Julian, Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University
• As an Epilepsy Canada New Investigator, Dr. Julian has created a one-of-a-kind cell model of epilepsy from these easily accessible cells taken from human patients. She will use this tool to uncover processes during brain development that lead to the formation of epileptic tissue. With this information, the aim is to uncover new chemical compounds that can be used to treat epilepsy once it’s been established and to prevent it from developing in the first place.
• NEW INVESTIGATOR 2021 Grant: $50,000
Epilepsy Canada and CURE Epilepsy prioritize highly innovative, risky, paradigm-shifting projects that address both organizations’ mission to cure epilepsy, affirming our core belief that the only acceptable final goal is “no seizures, no side-effects.”
Together, we identify and fund cutting-edge research,
challenging scientists worldwide to collaborate and innovate in pursuit of this goal.
Our commitment is unrelenting.
To read more about each grant please visit: Grants Awarded
Contact:
Gary Collins, President Epilepsy Canada