CURE Epilepsy Award

Grants to USA, Canada, and International investigators for research studies focused on epilepsy. Interested applicants are required to submit a letter of intent prior to the full proposal. Funding is intended to support transformative projects by established and early career researchers that address prevention, elimination, and disease modification.

Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy's CURE Epilepsy seeks to accelerate promising research leading to disease-modifying breakthroughs for people living with epilepsy. CURE Epilepsy awards grants for novel research projects that address finding the cures for epilepsy and address the goal of “no seizures, no side-effects.” 

CURE identifies and funds cutting-edge research, challenging scientists worldwide to collaborate and innovate in pursuit of this goal. With unrelenting commitment, CURE Epilepsy strongly encourages multidisciplinary, collaborative projects, especially those that include investigators and expertise from fields outside of epilepsy.

The following key priority areas reflect CURE’s focus on advances that have the potential to truly transform and save lives: 

• Basic mechanisms of epilepsy: Transformative research to enhance understanding of the cellular, molecular, genetic, and systems-level mechanisms that lead to any of the epilepsies, facilitating the continued investigation of disease-modifying or preventative strategies.
• Acquired epilepsies: Innovative approaches that can prevent, modify and/or arrest the development of acquired epilepsy. Examples include epilepsy that develops after stroke, tumor, traumatic brain
  injury or infection, including febrile infection-related epilepsy syndrome (FIRES) as well
  new-onset refractory status-epilepticus (NORSE).
• Pediatric epilepsies: Research that will inform the development of novel therapies to prevent onset or halt the progression of the severe pediatric epilepsies.
• Treatment-resistant epilepsies: Research focused on new, effective treatments for the >30% of the epilepsy population who are pharmacoresistant.
• SUDEP: Novel research that furthers our understanding of the causes and ultimate elimination of  SUDEP.
• Sleep & epilepsy: Translational, clinical, and clinically-informed basic research that will facilitate understanding of the cellular-, molecular-, and systems-level mechanisms that underlie the relationships between sleep and epilepsy.

Funding requests may include salary support for the Principal Investigator (PI), co-PIs, technical staff, supplies, animal costs, publication fees and travel to an epilepsy-related conference if the PI is presenting his/her CURE Epilepsy-funded research. Limited equipment purchases that are required to complete goals will be considered.