NEUROcom
Neuroscience and Motor Control Group

Research Line 1 - Static magnetic fields as an innovative therapy for refractory epilepsy and Dravet syndrome.

Non-invasive brain stimulation techniques have proven their usefulness in recent years as tools for the clinical evaluation and treatment of various neurological and psychiatric pathologies. Within these techniques, stimulation with static magnetic fields (SMF) has demonstrated in different experimental models (from mouse to human) the ability to decrease cortical excitability, which led our group to consider the possibility of applying it in models of epilepsy, a pathology where neuronal excitability is abnormally increased. For this reason, we have proposed a project with the following objectives:

1. Evaluation of the effect of ESCs in patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsy.
2. Evaluation of the effect of ESCs in a murine model of Dravet syndrome.
3. Given that in Dravet syndrome there is no epileptic focus as such, the use of magnets localised in specific points of the cortex does not seem to be an effective treatment. For this reason, we are considering the creation of a model, design and manufacture of a prototype of a helmet that allows a general stimulation of the cerebral cortex in real size for use in children.

Research Line 2 - Nutrition and cognitive functioning

From calorie restriction studies, we know that having too much food available significantly increases intake and negatively affects health, reducing quality of life and shortening its duration. In addition, we know that calorie restriction improves performance in cognitive functions such as memory and learning. However, the other relevant variable in dietary conditions, food accessibility, has received much less attention.

The fundamental hypothesis of this line of research is that not only the quantity of food, but also the way it is obtained (with or without effort) affects the development of the behavioural repertoire and the brain mechanisms that support it. Whereas, in a natural context, much of an animal's time and energy is spent on securing access to food, having too much food, too easily available, takes away one of the main motivations for engaging in environmental exploration activities. These activities, in which they learn about the relationship between behaviour and its consequences, depend primarily on the mesolimbic dopaminergic, or reward system, whose development would be limited in animals with free access to large amounts of food.