The
department of basic science possess 3600 square meters and
ownes a series of advanced equipments, such as confocal
microscopy, patch clamp system and denaturing high performance
liquid chromatography etc. There are 2 postdoctorals, 3
doctors, several lab assistants and over 10 graduate students.
At present,
basic research mainly focused on epilepsy, pediatric neurology
and synaptic plasticity. The leader of epilepsy group, Professor
Wei-ping Liao, the director of the Institute, is the vice-president
of China Association against Epilepsy. The group is developing
methods for genetic diagnosis of epilepsy. A new mutation
in SCN1A has been found recently and the functional studying
showed it maybe related to seizure aggravation by AEDs.
There is
a group studying the role of voltage-gated potassium ion
channel and Kv interaction protein (KChIP) in pathogenesis
of epilepsy. Fragile-X syndrome is a common heritable form
of mental retardation resulting from the abnormality of
FMRP.
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