We are delighted to announce that Epilepsy Ireland will co-fund two new PhD-level epilepsy research projects through Research Ireland’s Enterprise Partnership Scheme (EPS).
A total of €3 million in funding has been awarded to support 38 new enterprise-linked postgraduate research projects across a wide range of disciplines. This includes €181,600 allocated to two epilepsy-focused studies.
In addition to this amount, Epilepsy Ireland will contribute €90,400 over the next four years to support the two studies taking place at Dublin City University and University College Cork.
“Each early-career researcher will collaborate with a dedicated enterprise partner to tackle real-world economic and societal challenges,” said CEO of Research Ireland Dr Diarmuid O’Brien.
“The projects announced today will connect emerging talent with organisations across the public and private sectors, creating collaborations that deliver impact for both academia and enterprise.”
From Epilepsy Ireland’s perspective, participation in this funding scheme represents an important opportunity to invest in high-quality, Irish epilepsy research, and to help nurture the next generation of researchers dedicated to advancing the field of epilepsy.
Epilepsy Ireland CEO Peter Murphy said: “We are delighted to be part of Research Ireland’s Enterprise Partnership Scheme once again, and particularly pleased to support two excellent projects at UCC and DCU that have real potential to improve quality of life for people with epilepsy.
“The EPS plays a critical role in building research capacity and strengthening connections between researchers and the communities they serve. For organisations like ours, it provides an invaluable opportunity to collaborate with early-career researchers who have a strong interest in epilepsy and to help ensure that research is grounded in the real needs and experiences of people living with the condition.”
Details of the two new epilepsy projects, which are already underway, are below. Further details can also be found in the Research section.
EpiBreak
The EpiBreak project will be led by PhD candidate Dylan Maguire and supervised by Dr Ruairi Brannigan at the Dublin City University School of Chemistry.
This project aims to speed up the delivery of emergency seizure medications to someone experiencing a seizure. The study will investigate new technology to deliver the medication through the nose, taking advantage of tiny nerve pathways inside the nasal cavity that lead directly to the brain.
Current emergency medicines, such as Buccal Midazolam, are often given by mouth through the cheek (buccal cavity) and can take several minutes to work. This project aims to design nano-carriers (extremely small particles made from safe, biodegradable materials) into which medicine, like midazolam, can be loaded and then delivered through the nasal cavity. The project will use advanced imaging and laboratory testing to study how well these particles 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 in the development of new emergency seizure treatments that work within minutes with potentially fewer side effects. If successful, the results of this project could have a wide-ranging impact on how seizures are treated in the future.
Seizure Prediction Using Open Access EEG Datasets
This study will be led by PhD candidate Nóra Murphy, supervised by Dr Cian McCafferty at the University College Cork Department of Anatomy & Neuroscience.
The project focuses on laying the groundwork to create seizure early-warning systems by studying patterns in activity recorded by brain scans, known as electroencephalography (EEG).
It will use multiple large, open access EEG databases to explore if there are measurable changes in brain signals, such as shifts in brainwave power, rhythmicity, or connectivity, just before a seizure starts. If the research finds patterns in the data, further testing will be done to see if a machine-learning model can use them to distinguish between normal brain activity and activity that signals a seizure is about to happen.
The priorities of this study will be shaped by the results of a national survey developed with a Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) panel, to understand what people with epilepsy, their families, and clinicians want most from a seizure warning tool.
It is hoped that if these pre-seizure signals can be reliably detected, they could form the basis for future wearable devices that warn people of an oncoming seizure. Such a device would be a major step forward in tackling the unpredictability of seizures and the risks that their unexpected nature entail.