The Liverpool Neuroscience Centre (LINC) has announced the next recipients of its LINC Synapse Award, an interdisciplinary pump‑priming grant designed to spark new collaborations across neuroscience. This award brings together researchers from different disciplines to improve our understanding of epilepsy and how care may be improved.
Funding was awarded to early career researchers Dr Cordelia Dunai (Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Clinical Infection, Microbiology and Immunology) and Josie Mayer (PhD Student in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, and Neurology Registrar) for their project: ‘Metformin for epilepsy: translating health data signals into mechanistic evidence’.
Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological conditions globally, affecting an estimated 70 million people. For many, the condition brings unpredictable seizures that can disrupt education, employment, driving, independence, mental wellbeing, and overall quality of life. Although a wide range of anti‑seizure medications is available, a major unmet clinical need remains: there are still no treatments proven to prevent epilepsy from developing after a brain injury or illness, or therapies that modify the underlying disease process rather than simply controlling symptoms.
Metformin is a low‑cost, widely available, and well‑tolerated drug used worldwide for type 2 diabetes. Initial computational analyses by the researchers suggest that metformin may have potential benefits in epilepsy. To explore this further, they examined large real‑world healthcare datasets and found that metformin use was associated with a reduced risk of developing seizures and epilepsy, as well as fewer subsequent seizures among people already living with the condition.
Although the analyses provide an important indication of potential benefit, they do not yet clarify the underlying biological mechanisms. The project will now progress to laboratory‑based studies to investigate how metformin may influence the brain processes that drive epilepsy and seizure activity. By uncovering these mechanisms, the team aims to determine whether metformin could ultimately represent an accessible, disease‑modifying treatment option for people with epilepsy.
LINC Synapse Awards are designed to bring together neuroscience researchers from different disciplines who have not previously collaborated. By providing seed funding for pilot or proof‑of‑principle studies, the awards aim to generate data to catalyse novel research which will improve outcomes for those with neurological conditions.