Assoc Professor Gavin Rumbaugh
Gavin Rumbaugh is a tenured Associate Professor at The Scripps Research Institute, in Jupiter, Florida. Gavin’s lab has identified several genes that are critical regulators of synapse biology, excitatory balance and cognitive function. These genes also increase the risk for developing neurodevelopmental disorders. Current studies in the lab are aimed at understanding how risk genes disrupt synaptic properties during developmentally sensitive periods and how this process triggers behavioral impairment and seizure. The lab’s overarching goal is to apply knowledge gained from biological studies of genetic risk factors to accelerate the development of therapeutic agents to treat impaired brain excitability and behavioral dysfunction.
Links to some of Assoc Prof Rumbaugh’s bio and research papers can be found here.
Topic for Genetic Epilepsy Conference 2018:
Development of Targeted Therapies for Genetically-Defined Neurodevelopmental Disorders.
Rare genetic variants are known to cause epilepsy and related neurodevelopmental disorders. When the causal link is a single gene, it is possible to create highly specialized experimental systems for the purpose of producing tailored-made therapies for a given patient group. My talk will provide an overview of our efforts to create cutting-edge infrastructure and model systems that enable the identification and validation of drug-like compounds that target a genetically-defined neurodevelopmental disorder with epilepsy.
The Genetic Epilepsy 2018 Conference was Supported by:
