Detlev Boison
Rutgers University-New Brunswick, NJ·Neuroscience
Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological conditions worldwide. Current drugs can control seizures, but none stop the process by which a healthy brain becomes epileptic, called epileptogenesis.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Pharmacology
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
epilepsy
epileptogenesis
adenosine
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2027
What they work on
- Test whether blocking adenosine A2A receptors with istradefylline, or activating the astrocyte glutamate transporter GLT-1 with ceftriaxone, prevents epilepsy in the mouse intrahippocampal kainic acid model.
- Target receptor-independent adenosine mechanisms by testing adenosine kinase inhibitors, such as the candidate ADK-L inhibitor MRS-4203, and the DNA methylation blocker 5-azacytidine.
- Test the effectiveness of combination therapies against epilepsy development, validating the best strategies in a traumatic brain injury model of posttraumatic epilepsy.
More about the research
This project aims to prevent epilepsy, not just suppress seizures. It targets adenosine, a natural brain chemical that calms nerve activity, and focuses mainly on drugs that the FDA has already approved.
Why it matters
No current therapy prevents epilepsy from developing after a brain injury. By testing FDA-approved drugs and new compounds that act on the adenosine system, this work could lead to a strategy to prevent epilepsy, including after traumatic brain injury. Repurposing approved drugs could also shorten the path to testing such treatments in patients.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Shelley J Russek
Boston University, MA·Neuroscience
Test whether STAT3 signaling in excitatory neurons drives epilepsy progression by silencing synaptic plasticity and neuroinflammation genes, using mice with neuron-specific STAT3 knockout in the intrahippocampal kainate model.
Susan Campbell
University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL·Neuroscience
Test whether inhaled exposure to electronic nicotine delivery systems with nicotine and menthol increases seizure susceptibility in rodents, using a vapor inhalation system.
Martha Streng
University of Minnesota, MN·Neuroscience·Early-career
Use mesoscale calcium imaging of the cerebellar cortex in mice to determine how chronic, spontaneous seizures from the hippocampus alter cerebellar activity.
The school
Rutgers University-New Brunswick: 57 labs on PI Pages, $837M a year on research, 713 research doctorates a year.
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