NEW INVESTIGATOR AWARD 2022 WINNER

Karl Martin Klein, MD PhD FRCPC Associate Professor Departments of Clinical Neurosciences, Medical Genetics and Community Health Sciences Hotchkiss Brain Institute & Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary

Grant Project: Somatic mutations in nonlesional epilepsy identified using purified neuron and astrocyte nuclei from stereo-EEG electrodes

The cause of epilepsy is often unknown but recent studies have suggested that genetic changes in brain cells (“somatic mutations”), that are not inherited but occur during fetal development, can cause epilepsy. This study will tell us more about the involved genes in so far unexplained focal epilepsy. This knowledge will help to better understand epilepsy and develop better treatments in the future. If our approach is working, it will revolutionize the research into somatic mutations in epilepsy and result in many future discoveries that will bring us closer to the aim of curing epilepsy.

 Grant: $50,000