Trinity College Dublin Professor to Deliver Inaugural Lecture on Novel Therapies for Epilepsy

Trinity College Dublin Professor to Deliver Inaugural Lecture on Novel Therapies for Epilepsy

(IN BRIEF) Trinity College Dublin’s Professor Mark Cunningham will deliver his inaugural lecture on March 23, entitled “Hacking the brain’s accelerator: novel therapies for epilepsy?” He will discuss his research, which has taken several different approaches to address the mechanisms underlying seizure activity and how it might be stopped, focusing on the neurotransmitter glutamate. Glutamate is an important neurotransmitter for physiological processes in the brain, such as learning and memory. However, in epilepsy, the regulation of glutamate levels can lead to seizure activity. Mark’s lecture will discuss the importance of glutamate for normal function in the brain and how novel therapies are being developed that target this neurotransmitter system. The lecture is free and open to the public.

(PRESS RELEASE) DUBLIN, 10-Mar-2023 — /EuropaWire/ — On Thursday 23^rd March, Professor Mark Cunningham, Ellen Mayston Bates Professor of Neurophysiology of Epilepsy and the Head of the Discipline of Physiology at Trinity College Dublin, will deliver his inaugural lecture entitled “Hacking the brain’s accelerator: novel therapies for epilepsy?”. The lecture will take place in the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute at 6pm, and you can register for it here. The lecture is free and open to the public.

About Hacking the brain’s accelerator: novel therapies for epilepsy?

Seizures can be thought of as an electrical storm that occurs in the brain. In attempting to understand the mechanisms underlying seizure activity and how it might be stopped, Prof Cunningham’s research has taken several different approaches to address this, focusing on the neurotransmitter glutamate. Glutamate is an important neurotransmitter for physiological processes in the brain, such as learning and memory. However, in epilepsy, the dysregulation of glutamate levels can lead to seizure activity. Such is the case in a particular form of epilepsy that is associated with brain tumours. We now understand that the tumour hijacks glutamate and uses it to trigger seizure activity and promote the growth of the tumour. Mark’s lecture will discuss the importance of glutamate for normal function in the brain, how it plays a crucial role in driving seizures and how novel therapies are being developed that target this neurotransmitter system.

Speaking ahead of the lecture, Prof Cunningham said: “With support from Science Foundation Ireland, my research team at Trinity are now focusing on exploring the efficacy of a gene therapy approach for seizures associated with brain tumours. This work aims to explore if expressing a novel glutamate-gated channel in brain cells around the tumour can selectively inhibit neurons in response to increases in extracellular glutamate concentrations. The aim of this approach is to limit seizure activity and offer a precision-based medicine approach for patients with this condition.”

About Prof Cunningham

Mark Cunningham is the Ellen Mayston Bates Professor of Neurophysiology of Epilepsy at Trinity College Dublin and the Head of the Discipline of Physiology. He has a particular interest in understanding how pathological electrical activity is generated by the epileptic brain and how this can help develop better treatments for epilepsy. He is a funded investigator at the FutureNeuro SFI Research Centre in Dublin. Working with the FutureNeuro team and neurosurgeons at Beaumont Hospital he has established electrophysiological recordings in human epileptic brain slices for the first time in Ireland.

It is Mark’s firm belief is that science can transform society for the better. He believes engagement and communication of science will change scientific practice by improving the diversity and inclusion issues that are inherent in science.

To learn more about the Cunningham lab’s research progress visit www.cunninghamlab.org. To read the full brochure for the lecture, click here.

Media Contact:

Ciara O’Shea
Media Relations
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SOURCE: Trinity College Dublin