This year, Epilepsy Research UK has awarded £824,906 to nine research teams around the UK. This is more than double our grants spend last year.

In a new initiative, we have awarded two major fellowship grants to young scientists. These grants are intended to support them in establishing a career in the epilepsy research field.

• The eighth Sir Desmond Pond Fellowship has been awarded to Dr Premysl Jiruska of the University of Birmingham, who is looking at the first stages of seizures.

• Dr David Cope of Cardiff University won the first Epilepsy Research UK Fellowship for his work on understanding
  absence seizures.

Epilepsy Research UK has also made seven project grants to researchers around the country. Each project is looking at a different aspect of epilepsy:

• Two teams are looking at using brain scans to locate memory function in the brain before surgery for epilepsy. Professor Mark Richardson's group at King's College London will
  compare three different ways of using functional MRI,
  and Dr Steven Kemp from St James' University Hospital in Leeds will be evaluating using functional MRI in
  combination with magnetoencephalography.

• Professor Annette Dolphin will investigate changes in cell structure in the part of the brain where seizures start,
  focusing particularly on the role of a particular subunit in calcium ion channels.

• A genetic study pinpointing the gene behind childhood
  absence epilepsy will be carried out by Dr Kate Everett of the Institute of Child Health, London.

• Cognitive behaviour therapy for epilepsy will be developed by Dr Laura Goldstein and colleagues at King's College London, Maudsley Hospital and King's College Hospital.

• Professor Mike Kerr from the Welsh Centre for Learning Disabilities at Cardiff University will look at how to improve epilepsy treatment at GP level by screening for
  depression

• Dr Bethan Lang of the University of Oxford will ask are some types of epilepsy forms of autoimmune disease?

Leigh Slocombe, Chief Executive of Epilepsy Research UK, said

"I am delighted to report that the 2007 merger of the Epilepsy Research Foundation and the Fund for Epilepsy to form Epilepsy Research UK has proven to be a huge success, fulfilling the merger's prime aim of securing more money for epilepsy research. Last year saw the new charity raise over £1.3 million, a 57% increase on the combined income of the two charities. This allowed us to dedicate over £1,000,000 towards our charitable work, funding these nine new research projects and organizing an international conference on the psychosocial impact of epilepsy. We were also able to
designate £100,000 for a future research fellowship.

I would like to thank all our donors for their contribution to the success of Epilepsy Research UK. With your help we will go on to make great strides in the treatment and prevention of epilepsy."

Epilepsy Research UK, PO Box 3004, London W4 4XT Tel: (+44) (0) 20 8995 4781 • Fax: (+44) (0) 870 838 1069 Registered Charity No. 1100394