Addressing unmet medical needs for epilepsy

The Barker-Haliski Laboratory at the University of Washington School of Pharmacy advances 21st century therapy discovery strategies to address the unmet medical needs of people with seizures and epilepsy. We are particularly dedicated to meeting the impending wave of epilepsy in older adults that will define the 21st century. We are particularly interested in addressing seizures in people with Alzheimer’s disease, which are inversely associated with age of onset of Alzheimer’s disease. There are numerous nodes in which seizures in Alzheimer’s disease may be targeted therapeutically; these therapeutic targets may reduce the long-term deficits in cognitive function.

In addition to basic science research to understand the mechanisms of seizure susceptibility in Alzheimer’s disease, we also apply well-characterized seizure and epilepsy drug discovery models to evaluate promising investigational agents for drug resistant seizures and epilepsy. The evaluation of investigational compounds in these models provides the much-needed early demonstration of efficacy and behavioral tolerability of investigational agents in robust animal models of human temporal lobe epilepsy. The laboratory gives collaborators essential information to assist in advancement strategies of analogue compounds, inform clinical trial design for the most promising investigational agents, and minimize costs associated with the advancement of compounds through the early evaluation of compounds in clinically-relevant rodent models.


We routinely support numerous discovery avenues for epilepsy, including:

  • Developing novel preclinical platforms for evaluation of acute and chronic anticonvulsant efficacy of investigational drugs.
  • Understanding of the molecular and genetic pathophysiological processes that contribute to seizure initiation, propagation, and termination.
  • Defining novel strategies to test investigational therapeutic approaches for evaluating the impact of treatment on disease comorbidities and epileptogenesis.
  • Identifying biomarkers (cellular, molecular, or behavioral) of epileptogenesis for moderate- to high-throughput drug screening.
  • Create interdisciplinary collaborations to better understand the processes that contribute to seizures in special patient populations, including pediatric and adult patients with pharmacoresistant epilepsy or genetic risk factors associated with the development of epilepsy.