Is it possible to predict AED side-effects?
Grant round winners 2011 Approximately two thirds of people who have epilepsy successfully control their seizures with anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs); however AEDs can sometimes have unpleasant side-effec [...]
Language development after epilepsy surgery
Grant round winners 2011 When epilepsy develops in childhood, it often leads to learning and behavioural problems, particularly when seizures continue for a number of years. Approximately one-third of [...]
An investigation into absence seizures
Grant round winners 2011 Epileptic disorders can be described as focal (meaning that seizures originate in a specific part of the brain) or generalised (meaning that seizures involve most or all of the [...]
The mechanisms behind absence epilepsy
Grant round winners 2010 Absence epilepsy is a common epilepsy syndrome, which usually develops between the ages of four and nine years of age. Seizures can occur between 20 and several hundred times p [...]
A closer look at how seizures start
Grant round winners 2010 Understanding exactly how seizures begin is important for two reasons: firstly, so that a warning system can be developed to alert people with active epilepsy (in good time) wh [...]
New insights into photosensitive epilepsy and seizure activity
Grant round winners 2010 Approximately five percent of people with epilepsy have photosensitive epilepsy, where flashing lights or other visual stimuli can trigger seizures. The precise mechanism for p [...]
Improving pre-surgery assessment
Grant round winners 2010 In refractory epilepsy (RE), seizures are unresponsive to anti-epileptic drug treatment and this is the case for approximately a third of people with epilepsy. RE is notoriousl [...]
What causes drug-resistant epilepsy?
Grant round winners 2010 Anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) need to pass from the blood into the brain in order to protect against seizures. However, unlike many other organs, the brain is protected against c [...]
Can we reduce memory loss in epilepsy?
Grant round winners 2010 A large proportion of people with epilepsy experience memory problems, but the reasons for this are still poorly understood. One possibility is that it is due to a type of impa [...]
Why do seizures happen?
Grant round winners 2009 Epileptic seizures are caused by bursts of excess electrical activity in the brain, when neurons become too excitable. Yet what normally stops this from happening? One theory i [...]
The effects of modern anti-epileptic drugs on unborn babies
Grant round winners 2009 It has been shown that mothers who take antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) during pregnancy have an increased risk of having a baby with a physical malformation, such as a cleft lip an [...]
Assessing the benefits of epilepsy treatment
Grant round winners 2009 When the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) decides if a treatment should be available on the NHS, value for money is a very important factor. "Value" [...]