{"id":23996,"date":"2025-10-15T11:05:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T11:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idibe.umh.es\/?p=23996"},"modified":"2025-10-15T11:05:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T11:05:00","slug":"science-with-tapas-no47","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idibe.umh.es\/en\/2025\/10\/15\/science-with-tapas-no47\/","title":{"rendered":"SCIENCE WITH TAPAS N\u00ba47"},"content":{"rendered":"

September 26, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cDravet Syndrome: Understanding the Invisible\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

As part of the European Researchers\u2019 Night<\/strong> within FECITELX 2025<\/strong>, the Institute for Research, Development and Innovation in Healthcare Biotechnology of Elche (IDiBE\u2013UMH)<\/strong> organized a new edition of Science with Tapas<\/em> last Friday, September 26<\/strong>, at the La Valona building<\/strong> on the Elche Campus<\/strong>, with a large number of attendees.<\/p>\n

The event was presented and moderated by Dr. Francisco Javier \u00c1lvarez Mart\u00ednez<\/strong>, researcher at IDiBE. The invited speakers were Dr. Carmina D\u00edaz Mar\u00edn<\/strong>, Head of the Neurology Department at Dr. Balmis General University Hospital of Alicante<\/strong>, and Dr. Simona Giorgi<\/strong>, Scientific Director of the Dravet Syndrome Foundation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Dr. Giorgi began her talk by showing a video in which families of patients shared their experiences with the disease. She went on to define Dravet Syndrome<\/strong> as a developmental and epileptic encephalopathy that usually appears between 4 and 8 months of age<\/strong>, and also causes cognitive and motor impairments<\/strong>. She explained the challenges of developing advanced therapies targeting the SCN1A gene<\/strong>, which presents numerous mutations and a large size, as well as the difficulties of different routes of administration and the heterogeneity among patients.<\/p>\n

Among the most advanced therapies, she highlighted Zorevunersen<\/strong>, a drug currently in phase 3 clinical trials<\/strong>, which has shown a reduction in epileptic seizures, and ETX101<\/strong>, an epigenetic therapy<\/strong> now in phase 1\/2<\/strong>. To conclude, she shared some information about the Dravet Syndrome Foundation<\/strong>, where she currently works.<\/p>\n

For her part, Dr. D\u00edaz<\/strong> discussed the prevalence<\/strong> of the disease and the parameters used to evaluate epileptic patients<\/strong>, such as clinical history, electroencephalogram, neuroimaging, and genetic studies. She noted that the disorder is named after the French neurologist Charlotte Dravet<\/strong>. In addition to epilepsy, she emphasized the importance of addressing behavioral issues<\/strong>, cognitive and language impairments<\/strong>, and the need for early and accurate diagnosis.<\/p>\n

Regarding pharmacological treatment<\/strong>, Dr. D\u00edaz underlined the importance of acting quickly to control seizures, using antiepileptic drugs<\/strong> such as cannabinoids<\/strong> and valproate combined with clonazepam<\/strong>. She also mentioned non-pharmacological treatments<\/strong> like the ketogenic diet<\/strong>, vagus nerve stimulation<\/strong> in adults, and behavioral, motor, and speech therapy<\/strong>. Finally, she stressed the importance of providing comprehensive support to families<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Afterwards, a lively Q&A session<\/strong> took place, with many questions and active participation from the audience.<\/p>\n

The evening concluded, as is tradition, with a tasting of tapas and drinks<\/strong>, fostering an informal exchange between speakers and attendees.<\/p>\n

By M\u00aa Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ednez (September 29, 2025)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\" \"\" \"\" \"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

September 26, 2025 \u201cDravet Syndrome: Understanding the Invisible\u201d As part of the European Researchers\u2019 Night within FECITELX 2025, the Institute for Research, Development and Innovation in Healthcare Biotechnology of Elche (IDiBE\u2013UMH) organized a new edition of Science with Tapas last Friday, September 26, at the La Valona building on the Elche Campus, with a large […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30306,"featured_media":23993,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/idibe.umh.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23996"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/idibe.umh.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/idibe.umh.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idibe.umh.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30306"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idibe.umh.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/idibe.umh.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idibe.umh.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/idibe.umh.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idibe.umh.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idibe.umh.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}