Research

Cain Labs Research News

Investigators in the Cain Labs are primarily focused on understanding the basic mechanism underlying childhood epilepsy and the intellectual developmental disorders often associated with these disorders.  Working in concert with pediatric epileptologists at Baylor College of Medicine, they strive to understand the causes of seizures in children at the cellular and molecular levels.  Ultimately, the goals are to identify novel targets for therapeutic interventions to stop seizures. 

A Major Milestone in Epilepsy Research:

Under Dr. John Swann’s leadership, the Cain Labs have focused on understanding the basic mechanisms that underlie persistent seizures and learning disabilities in children with intractable epilepsy. In 2010, extensive preclinical cellular and animal studies by Cain lab researchers culminated in the identification of a rapamycin analog, everolimus, as a potential therapy against severe epilepsy due to brain malformations in Tuberous Sclerosis Complex. In a small FDA-approved clinical trial conducted at the Texas Children’s and Cincinnati Children’s Hospitals, it was demonstrated that most of the severely epileptic children treated with everolimus had significantly fewer seizures.  Encouraged by those positive results, a much larger international clinical trial is now underway. Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine are major sites for this trial.

In this section, we provide succinct and easy-to-understand synopses of recent studies published by members of Cain labs.

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