Purine sensors as novel point-of-care devices for seizures and epilepsy

Epilepsy is the most common chronic brain disease, affecting ~70 million people worldwide.

Accurately diagnosing epilepsy remains a major clinical challenge due to the lack of non-invasive molecular diagnostic tools.

Purinergic signalling via extracellularly released adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and its downstream purine derivatives is increasingly recognised to contribute to increased hyperexcitability states in the brain, and thus seizures.

Hence, these can be potentially identified as novel promising therapeutic targets for the treatment of epilepsy but also as a source of disease-specific biomarkers.

However, the diagnostic potential of purinergic signalling for epilepsy remains unclear, and current methods of detection are either unsuitable for point-of-care application or lack disease specificity.

Employing a multidisciplinary approach including sensor development, testing in preclinical models of epilepsy, and testing in patients, we will develop a new, user-friendly point-of-care sensor which allows the measurement of specific purines and evaluate the diagnostic potential of blood purine expression changes.

Combining my research experience in the development of biosensors with the expertise of my primary (Dr Tobias Engel, RCSI) and secondment (Prof Nicholas Dale, University of Warwick; Prof Norman Delanty, Beaumont Hospital; Prof Felix Rosenow, Frankfurt University) supervisors on purinergic signalling and the development diagnostic devices, ATPsensor will increase our understanding of purinergic signalling and provide new tools to support the diagnosis of epilepsy.

The skills acquired during the research project, the excellent training record of the supervisors and host institutions, and the outstanding resources for learning and development available at RCSI and collaborator institutions will give me the tools necessary to become a highly employable neuroscientist.