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Many issues make post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE) a challenging epilepsy to study in laboratories and clinical settings. One of these issues is the process of epileptogenesis, which is the time between the injury and when the brain starts generating seizures and can span days to months or years. Epileptogenesis could provide a unique window of opportunity for intervention, but at present, we do not know enough about this process to develop therapies to halt it in its tracks. Therefore, in order to develop effective treatment strategies to prevent PTE, we need to understand the changes taking place in the brain after TBI and before the development of PTE. Additionally, a PTE biomarker (a biological factor that can be measured through genomic analysis, in blood, or via brain activity that can indicate the potential of developing of PTE) would be especially helpful. Addressing these needs may be best approached in a cohesive effort within the scientific community in order to find effective preventive strategies and treatments for all individuals at risk of this type of epilepsy.
One way of bringing researchers together in an intentional way is through a “team science” approach. Team science is a collaborative effort where different researchers with a breadth of skills come together to solve a single issue, taking advantage of diversity of scientific background, knowledge and expertise.[7] CURE Epilepsy has a track record of funding team science initiatives, such as the Infantile Spasms (IS) Initiative, which brought together eight different research teams across the US with an array of expertise to advance the understanding of IS and potential treatments. Team science initiatives provide a unique opportunity for transparent and real-time collaboration.[8]
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