Pediatric Epilepsy Research Center offers grants for pilot projects

A new Pediatric Epilepsy Research Center, being established in the School of Medicine with initial support from an anonymous donor, is offering pilot grants for innovative research focused on issues relevant to pediatric epilepsies.

Three or four pilot grants, with a budget ceiling of $50,000 for each application, will be funded each year. Applicants must be full-time UW faculty members, but not necessarily established epilepsy researchers. The proposed research must address fundamentally important questions related to understanding pediatric epilepsies.

Applications will be judged on overall scientific merit, feasibility and significance. The grant program is designed to help investigators generate data to support major grant applications to other agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health, and to stimulate new investigative efforts.

For the first round of pilot grants, applications are due by July 15, with an expected start date of Sept. 15.

According to center founders, very few groups of epilepsy researchers have focused exclusively on causes and treatments for childhood epilepsy, although epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders affecting children. Causes of childhood epilepsy are poorly understood and treatment is often inadequate. By focusing on how epilepsy develops in the immature nervous system and how seizures affect the immature brain over time, the researchers hope to make significant progress in understanding pediatric epilepsy disorders and improving their treatment.

Center organizers plan to coordinate both clinical and laboratory research, and expect the program will attract high-quality research trainees to the field.

An Advisory Board, led by Dr. Bruce Ransom, chair of the Department of Neurology, and Dr. H. Richard Winn, chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery, will oversee the new center. Dr. Philip Schwartzkroin, professor of neurological surgery and of physiology and biophysics, is the research director. Dr. Jong Rho, assistant professor of neurology and pediatrics, is co-director for transitional research.

For more information on application procedures and relevance of research for the pilot grants, contact Schwartzkroin at 543-9125 or Rho at 526-2000, ext. 1502. ¶