Principal Investigator
Dylan Maguire, Dublin City University (Academic Supervisor: Dr. Ruairi Brannigan, DCU School of Chemistry)
Investment
€90,800, over four years of which €45,200 is provided by Epilepsy Ireland. The project is funded by the Research Ireland Enterprise Partnership Scheme.
About the Project
Some people with epilepsy may require urgent ‘rescue’ treatment when a seizure occurs. Current emergency medicines - often given by mouth through the cheek, such as Buccal Midazolam - can take several minutes to work. This delay happens because the drugs must first travel through the bloodstream and then cross the brain’s natural defence system, the blood–brain barrier (BBB), before they can stop the seizure. The medicines may also cause unwanted side effects, such as drowsiness and breathing problems.
The EpiBreak project aims to change this by delivering anti-seizure medicines directly from the nose to the brain. This administration route avoids the bloodstream and the BBB by taking advantage of tiny nerve pathways inside the nasal cavity that lead directly to brain tissue. This research aims to design mucus-penetrating nano-carriers (extremely small particles made from safe, biodegradable materials) into which medicine, like midazolam, can be loaded.
The project will use advanced imaging and laboratory testing to study how well the nano-carriers pass through the mucus in the nose, adhere to the lining in the nose to release their cargo, and then naturally break down in the body.
It is hoped that this study could help generate new emergency seizure treatments that work faster, with potentially fewer side effects