Imagine yourself at one of the coolest, wildest parties ever. I’m talking about one of those loud, crazy, intense parties where whatever could happen, does happen, and there’s just so much stimulation you could burst.
Now, imagine this same mind-blowing rager happening in your brain.
This stimuli overload is an example of what is happening in the brain of a person with epilepsy. In other words, “Someone with epilepsy has too much activity going on in their brain,” said Rebecca Hauser, a doctorate student in UAB’s Graduate Biomedical Sciences program.
To date, there are more than 65 million people globally that have epilepsy. There are two forms of epilepsy – general and partial. General epilepsy has an overhaul of activity going on all over the brain, whereas partial epilepsy has an intense activity in a specific area(s) of the brain. Partial epilepsy is the most common form of epilepsy.
Hauser, a student researcher in Dr. Farah Lubin’s lab, investigates the regulation of genes in the brain of a person with epilepsy compared to someone with a healthy brain. To be fair, our genes undergo some form of regulation all over the body. Yet, gene regulation in the brain is an everyday 24/7 affair.
Hauser is specifically interested in the effects of medial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE). Medial TLE accounts for 60 percent of the entire epileptic population. This form of partial epilepsy affects the part of the brain that controls memory (known as the hippocampus). Thus, people with this form of epilepsy can suffer with severe memory loss, greatly diminishing a person’s quality of life. When medicine and brain therapy do not work, medial TLE patients opt for surgery to remove parts of the brain.
Hauser is currently in the beginning stages of her research, but even so, she has already observed a major protein that does not function correctly within an epileptic brain. This non-functioning protein is G9A.
G9A is an awesome protein in a healthy brain. It is responsible for the serious task of gene regulation by sticking a marker on that gene. The marker tells your DNA not to make the gene on that particular day. The gene regulation that G9A does is a very important job that keeps the cells happy; when the cells are happy, the body is happy.
Unfortunately, in an epileptic brain, G9A does not function correctly. Thus, many genes are made that are not supposed to be made. Hauser said it is like “kids running lose in a candy store” – there is no stopping them.
Hauser plans to use epileptic induced mice and CRISPER/Cas9 (a super cool science mechanism) to turn on G9A in the TLE mouse brains. She will attempt to make G9A work, thereby getting rid of the symptoms of medial TLE in the mice. Currently, no medication targets G9A protein in TLE patients. Hauser is hopeful her research will set the foundation to create effective and safe clinical treatment.
It is safe to say even when attending an ultimate rager, it is nice to go home and have peace and quiet. Yet, people suffering with TLE do not have the luxury of stopping the party. Thankfully, dedicated researchers, like Hauser, are striving to increase understanding and find innovative treatments that will end the suffering of TLE.
