Deborah Kurrasch, Ph.D
– Alberta Children’s Research Institute, University of Calgary, Alberta
– 2017
Dr. Deborah Kurrasch
In partnership with the Rare Disease Models and Mechanisms Network (RDMM), Dr. Deborah Kurrasch was awarded $12 500 by dravetCanada for her project which will conduct a comparative drug screen in zebrafish in scn1aand gabra1 loss-of-function mutants to gain insight into differences and similarities of drug efficacies and molecular targets in these two genetic causes of Dravet. The main deliverable from this work will be a greater understanding of whether Dravet models share some overlapping pathophysiology that can potentially be targeted by a small molecule, or if screening in a particular genotype will uncover genotype-specific drugs.