The focus of the stem cell laboratory is to find new treatments for patients with epilepsy that are not adequately treated with currently available anti-seizure medications.  To do this, we take patient's own cells and turn them into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) – which can then be directed to become any cell in the body. To study epilepsy, we instruct iPSCs to become brain cells or neurons – the cells which are affected in epilepsy. This allows us create a personalised ‘epilepsy-in-a-dish’ model for each patient, on which we can then test a variety of existing or new anti-seizure medications. Importantly, this personalised model allows testing without any risk to the patient and can be scaled up to allow high-throughput screening of thousands of potential life-changing drugs.

Currently accepting keen PhD students for an exciting project:

Epilepsy in a Dish – Finding cures for epilepsy using stem cell-based disease models. | Supervisor Connect (monash.edu)

Ben Rollo has developed a rapid method for functional readout of compounds with anti-seizure properties. This method was developed using multielectrode array (MEA) technology which is used to detect the electrical activity of iPSC-derived neural cultures. Compounds can be tested for thier ability to reduce spontaneous and epileptiform activity of neural cultures. These methods have been used to screen pre-clinical lead compounds for industry partners and drug libraries.