Researchers at UNLV are trying to determine if a kitchen spice could become a way to treat seizures.

Within the white, clinical walls of a nondescript UNLV lab, a small team of neuroscientists are working on a project with potentially big implications for children suffering from seizures.

Dr. Dustin Hines, professor of neuroscience at University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), US, and study co-author Rochelle Hines, professor of psychology, discuss a breakthrough in seizure therapy using compounds derived from caraway seeds. By altering the shape of the seed’s main chemical component, researchers created a new class of THC-free “CBD-like” therapies that showed seizure-reducing effects and promoted healthier brain cell development in preclinical trials, potentially offering safer alternatives to current drug-resistant therapies.

While many people may consider psychedelics to be solely a recreational drug, research indicates that this drug class can be helpful in treating mental health issues such as depression and addiction.

Seizures are far more common than most people realize. Epilepsy affects about one percent of the population, making it one of the most prevalent neurological disorders worldwide. Seizures can appear at any moment in life, arising from genetic conditions, traumatic brain injuries, infections, metabolic disorders, or sometimes even no identifiable cause at all.

A possible “molecular breakthrough” is happening in the Las Vegas valley. A group of UNLV students and neuroscientists has found a way to take something as common as caraway, also known as meridian fennel, and transform it into a new class of CBD-like compounds that could potentially help children who suffer from severe seizure disorders.

A recent discovery of a molecular connection between autism and myotonic dystrophy, a type of neuromuscular disease, may provide a breakthrough on how clinicians approach autism spectrum disorder. The new study by an interdisciplinary team of biomedical scientists, published on April 21 in Nature Neuroscience, used myotonic dystrophy as a tool or model to learn more about autism – effectively using one disorder to better understand the other.

In December 2020, Ben Strahan thought he’d lost the will to live. It had been a long, isolating year for the Reno-based wildland firefighter. The COVID pandemic was still in full swing, and that year’s fire season had been extreme.