UPEI Neuroscience Researchers Recognized for Significant Epilepsy Innovation
Neuroscience researchers may be one step closer to solving the mysteries of the devastating disease of epilepsy, thanks to a new development at the University of Prince Edward Island. Epilepsy is a debilitating neurological disorder that affects over 50 million people worldwide It is characterized by abnormal electrical signalling in the brain that is thought to be due to inappropriate physical or chemical "wiring" of neural circuits. UPEI researchers have created a unique animal model to help scientists understand the progressive changes in brain development and function that lead to seizures and other forms of brain dysfunction.
The significance and originality of their invention has been recognized by the awarding of a US patent. Today, UPEI President Wade MacLauchlan presented official patent documents to Dr. Tracy Doucette, from the Department of Biology; Dr. Catherine Ryan from the Department of Psychology, and Dr. Andrew Tasker from the Department of Biomedical Sciences. President MacLauchlan also recognized the two members of their research team who were not present. They are former UPEI graduate student Melissa Perry and Dr. Henriette Husum Bak-Jensen of Copenhagen.
"The issuing of the patent is validation that our researchers are cutting-edge and that their work has the potential to make a tangible difference in the world," said President MacLauchlan. "It confirms that they have done something that no one else has ever done, and that the discovery can contribute to a greater understanding of epilepsy and hopefully to the development of new therapies."
The patent-awarding ceremony was chaired by Dr. Katherine Schultz, Vice President of Research Development. She said that this latest accomplishment by the UPEI research team highlights the fact that important innovation can and does happen in Prince Edward Island, and not only in Toronto or New York. She also noted that the invention was an excellent example of collaboration across the university.
"The discovery required the combined efforts of people in Pharmacology, Psychology and Biology. Such collaborations can happen at any university, but often they are much easier at small, supportive universities like UPEI," she said. "This work involved a number of students who participated at levels all the way from undergraduate to PhD study. For UPEI, it provides one more indication that the university research profile is growing rapidly and that there is value in that research. It reminds us that UPEI is not only a teaching place and#150; it is a teaching, learning, and discovering place."
Dr. Andrew Tasker spoke on behalf of his co-inventors. He explained that a large number of epilepsy patients, often children or adolescents, develop seizures in the absence of any obvious precipitating event. The seizures develop slowly so that the progression of the disease goes undetected or misdiagnosed until later in life.
"Many of these cases are difficult to manage with existing drugs, but if we had a better understanding of what is going on in the brains of these patients, it should be possible to develop better drugs or even achieve the ultimate goal of preventing the development of the disease," he said. "It is our belief and our hope that the animal model we have developed, and continue to characterize, may help researchers to understand these slow, progressive changes in brain development and function that ultimately lead to seizures and other forms of brain dysfunction."
What the researchers have done is to chemically alter the development of the brain in newborn rats. These carefully tended animals show no evidence of any problems at first. But gradually they develop to a point where certain types of cognitive challenge cause them to display a low grade seizure-like behaviour. Investigation of the brains of these rats reveals a number of structural and chemical changes that are characteristic of those seen in adult onset models of epilepsy and in the brains of epilepsy patients.
"We believe, and obviously the US Patent Office agrees with us, that this model affords researchers a new tool with which to figure out the sequence of events that underly progressive, abnormal brain development leading to epilepsy and quite possibly to other forms of neurological disease," said Dr. Tasker.
The work that led to this invention was funded by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, NSERC, and the PEI Health Research Program. "The ongoing development and commercialization of this model would not be possible without the support of the Atlantic Innovation Fund and other IP development funds for which we are very grateful," said Dr. Tasker.
