Susan Campbell
University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL·Neuroscience
Seizures arise when networks of brain cells become too excitable. This work asks how factors outside the brain push those networks toward seizures.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Pharmacology
Microbiology & Immunology
- Topics
epilepsy
seizures
seizure susceptibility
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Jul 2027
What they work on
- Test whether inhaled exposure to electronic nicotine delivery systems with nicotine and menthol increases seizure susceptibility in rodents, using a vapor inhalation system.
- Test whether vaping nicotine with menthol makes neurons hyperexcitable by disrupting glutamate homeostasis, the balance of the brain's main excitatory messenger and its regulatory proteins.
- Determine whether depleting S-equol, a gut bacterial metabolite made from dietary daidzein, increases seizures in mice infected with Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus, using EEG, mass spectrometry and 16S RNA sequencing.
- Test whether S-equol-producing gut microbes protect against seizures and neuronal hyperexcitability by activating BK potassium channels, across TMEV, kainic acid and genetic epilepsy models.
More about the research
One project examines vaping nicotine with menthol flavoring. The other examines molecules made by gut bacteria. Both focus on mouse models and on how neuronal excitability is controlled, combining seizure measurements with recordings of brain cell activity.
Why it matters
About 30% of people with epilepsy do not respond to current drugs, and young people who vape face unknown seizure risks. Identifying a gut microbial metabolite that may protect against seizures could provide a new therapeutic target for drug-resistant epilepsy. Clarifying how vaping nicotine and menthol affects brain excitability could help individuals and policy makers make informed decisions about e-cigarette use.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Ana Beatriz De Paula E Silva
University of Utah, UT·Neuroscience·Early-career
Track when TREM1, a receptor that amplifies inflammation, appears on brain-infiltrating macrophages in TMEV-infected mice, and test whether genetic or drug blocking of TREM1 reduces acute seizures measured by video-EEG.
Detlev Boison
Rutgers University-New Brunswick, NJ·Neuroscience
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.
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
University of Alabama at Birmingham: 45 labs on PI Pages, $866M a year on research, 166 research doctorates a year.
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