Fiona Inglis, left, and Laura Schrader, right, perform important neuroscience research under a federally funded program for junior faculty members. They are assistant professors of cell and molecular biology at Tulane. (Photo by Paula Burch-Celentano)

Two Tulane researchers whose work may one day affect the treatment of epilepsy, strokes, schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease are among junior faculty benefiting from a federal grant for neuroscience research in Louisiana. Laura Schrader and Fiona Inglis, both assistant professors of cell and molecular biology, are receiving funding for their research.

Schrader is slated to receive more than $1 million over five years to support research into mechanisms that may protect neurons from death during high-energy states, such as epileptic seizures or strokes.

"In epilepsy as well as strokes, neurons -- or brain cells -- may become chemically overexcited, suffer from the toxic effects of that excitement and die, causing long-term damage to brain tissue," Schrader explains. "We are interested in studying the ways in which certain elements of the brain cells can actually protect neurons from this kind of death."

Although Schrader currently is working with rats and mice, she hopes that over the long term her research will lead to the development of new drugs that could protect human brain tissue during strokes or seizures.

Both faculty members are collaborators on projects funded by the National Institutes of Health Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center.

Inglis is lined up to receive $445,500 for her research into the ways in which neurons form connections. According to Inglis, all neurons have the ability to receive connections by way of dendrites, or long branches that carry signals between cells, with other neurons. The funded study will look at the ways in which nerve cells communicate with each other and increase opportunities for growth and connection, thereby building brain tissue.

"The molecules involved in signaling have been shown previously to influence plasticity in learning and memory. Disruption of these signaling pathways may be important in diseases such as schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease," Inglis explains. "Understanding how these brain and nerve cells establish their shape and connectivity with other nerve cells may lead us to new therapeutic targets for treating injury and diseases of brain tissue."