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Pharmacoresistant focal epilepsy: from mechanisms to gene therapy

kullmann headshot
Tuesday, March 02, 2021
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Dimitri Kullmann, hosted by James McNamara, Sr.
The Ruth K. Broad Foundation Seminar Series on Neurobiology and Disease

Duke Neurobiology welcomes Dimitri Kullmann, PhD, Professor of Neurology
at University College of London's Queen Square Institute of Neurology.
For connection info to his Zoom seminar "Pharmacoresistant focal epilepsy: from mechanisms to gene therapy", email d.shipman@duke.edu.
Abstract: Focal (partial-onset) epilepsy often responds poorly to anti-seizure drugs and represents a major unmet need. Of the advanced therapies that have been proposed, gene therapy is arguably closest to the clinic. I shall describe several strategies that have been pursued in my laboratory to achieve constitutive, on-demand or closed-loop suppression of seizure activity in rodent epilepsy models. Some of these strategies build on insights into how inhibitory restraint breaks down in and around seizure foci. I will also consider the path to the first clinical trial scheduled to start in early 2022.