Robert Macdonald

A single mutation in one gene can impair inhibitory signaling in the brain and cause multiple types of seizures and behavioral abnormalities. Read More

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) are one step closer to understanding what causes early-onset epileptic encephalopathy, a rare form of childhood epilepsy that is difficult to treat and has poor developmental outcomes. Read More

Genetic variation in GABA-A receptors confers risk for inherited forms of epilepsy. Read More

Researchers at Vanderbilt University for the first time have demonstrated in a mouse model that aggregation, the “clumping together” of abnormal proteins, can contribute to a severe form of genetic epilepsy. Read More

Defects in the production of certain receptors are linked to the pathogenesis of genetic epilepsies and fever-induced seizures. Read More

Understanding how mutations in neuronal receptors contribute to epilepsy could lead to improved therapies. Read More

Brain Blast 2011 featured 35 different ways to learn about the brain, guided by Vanderbilt neuroscience graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty members and other volunteers. More than 100 neuroscientists participated. Read More