Dravet Syndrome Foundation Spain was created with the primary goal of removing the barriers that prevent research on Dravet syndrome from advancing, as well as encouraging the search for effective treatments that can mitigate or even cure the disease.

Therefore, FSD places a high priority on funding research that has a clear path to genetic understanding, clinical application and/or therapeutic development.

 
Dravet syndrome, also known as severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy, is a condition of genetic origin which falls within the pathological family of channelopathies, as approximately 80 percent of affected patients have a mutation in the SCN1A gene which encodes a sodium channel (Nav1.1) essential for the proper functioning of the brain. This syndrome begins in the first year of life, with seizures triggered by fever, followed by drug-resistant epilepsy. In addition, it causes serious delays in cognitive, motor and speech development, as well as behavioural problems.

• Through this call, we seek to promote fundamental, pre-clinical and clinical research aimed at advanced and innovative therapies.
• Due to the genetic nature of this disease, eligible areas of study in this open call include, among others, gene therapy of viral vectors, gene therapy of non-viral vectors, and synthetic biology for the development of disease-modifying molecules.
• Specifically, the call focuses on exploratory projects of a preliminary nature and/or which study therapeutic aspects for Dravet syndrome not yet covered, in order to help scientists lay the foundation for a long-term research strategy.

We hope to receive projects of extraordinary quality that ultimately aim to improve the quality of life of people living with Dravet syndrome. We encourage all research groups to send us their proposals!

*The period for submitting projects is NOW OPEN*

All details about the call, including rules, eligibility criteria, deadlines and the online submission platform can be found by clicking the find out more link below: