Epilepsy researchers awarded $100,000 grant

Kalispell neuroscience researchers in July received a $101,250 grant from the Montana Department of Commerce to aid their search for better treatment for epilepsy and other neurodegenerative conditions. Expesicor was founded in 2016 by neuroscientist Braxton Norwood, who was soon joined by entrepreneur David Booth, whose involvement stemmed from a personal interest in the disorder. The pair, both under 40, are bucking the status quo when it comes to traditional research methods.

“If you grew up for decades doing that same type of research, the next project you’re going to propose is likely just a small tweak on the research you’ve done in the past,” Booth said, “where we’re taking these very unique, out-of-the box kind of views … I think that ties into our age a bit.”

In typical epilepsy research, Norwood said scientists evoke seizures in animals and administer an experimental drug to try and block those seizures. Essentially, they are stopping they very thing they have created, which doesn’t account for the random nature of the disease.

“That’s not epilepsy — with epilepsy (seizures are) spontaneous,” Norwood said. “You’re only creating one little facet of a complicated disease. So, we’re looking at the neurodegeneration in general, instead one little potential thing that may or may not be the cause.”

Neurodegeneration occurs when neurons, cells that transmit information to other cells throughout the body, progressively deteriorate or die. This loss of neural function is the culprit behind a range of conditions, including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, so Expesicor’s research targets solutions for more than just epilepsy. Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder that can be inherited or the result of a brain injury, and causes unprovoked, random seizures with durations ranging from seconds to a few minutes long.

Booth and Norwood agree that epilepsy treatments are in desperate need of innovation. Booth said there are very few drugs on the market designed specifically for epilepsy and those that are, are often based on science that’s decades old. The side effects can also be debilitating, ranging from liver failure to psychiatric disorders — and everything in between.

“There’s one that can turn you blue,” Norwood said. “The side effect is becoming a Smurf.”

DEVELOPING A drug from scratch can take between 12 and 14 years, but Norwood said researchers can reduce that timeline to three to five years by repurposing drugs that have already been approved by the FDA or using those that failed clinical trials.

But research still comes at a cost. Norwood said Expesicor needs to raise between $1 million and $2 million per year to maintain a fully functioning lab.

“The research is really expensive; it’s unfortunately not something we can just do in a garage,” he said.

Currently, they’ve authored 10 grants this year — some as long as 80 to 90 pages.

They’re approaching a variety of sources for funding, including the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation and the U.S. Department of Defense, which has its eye on epilepsy research due to the disorder’s correlation with traumatic brain injuries.

“With modern warfare, there’s been a lot of improvement in body armor, but not in head protection,” Norwood said, “so soldiers survive injuries that they weren’t before, but they’re surviving them with brain trauma and the incidents of epilepsy have really jumped, so it’s a major problem for the military.”

Seizures occur in 1 in 10 patients who underwent hospitalization for a traumatic brain injury. And about 80 percent of those who have a seizure more than seven days after their initial injury will develop epilepsy, according to the Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center. Nationwide, epilepsy affects more than 2.5 million people, while another 1 million live with Parkinson’s and more than 5.5 million suffer from Alzheimer’s.

Expesicor operates out of facilities at the University of Montana, Missoula. The pair had originally considered moving operations to Norwood’s alma mater in Arizona, but were turned off by the sacrifices of intellectual property they would have had to make. Montana was different: they’d pay to use the lab, but everything they did inside of it was theirs. The quality of life and access to top-notch researchers also drew them to the Big Sky state.

“There’s some phenomenal researchers here,” Booth said. “Imagine, we’re in the middle of San Francisco and trying to get in touch with the same caliber of researcher — it’s very difficult because they’re in higher demand. But here, people are open, friendly, more approachable.”

Booth and Norwood work alongside a three-member panel of scientific advisors and five business professionals, but strive to keep their operation “lean.”

“We’re not tied to certain ways of thinking, we’re much more flexible,” Booth said.

“That’s what we see as actually the problem is you have these accepted methods that don’t really work so why keep using them?” Norwood added. “Why not try developing something new or taking a different approach, which is inherently more risky, but the potential is a lot greater. It’s a huge problem that I think needs some fresh ideas.”

Reporter Mackenzie Reiss may be reached at 758-4433 or mreiss@dailyinterlake.com.