Selene Therapeutics
Novel Epilepsy Therapy
About
Our Story
Selene Therapeutics is pioneering a new therapeutic strategy for treating refractory epilepsy, using cutting-edge science. Selene Therapeutics is part of the FuturX Bio-Accelerator, which was founded by J&J, Takeda, Orbimed Israel Partners, and later joined by Bayer, together with the Israeli Innovation Authority, and is supported by RMGP Biopharma Investment Fund. Our technology was licensed from Ramot, the commercial arm of Tel-Aviv University, from the lab of Professor Inna Slutsky.
Addressing the Challenge
Refractory Epilepsy - An Unmet Clinical Need
Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders, affecting more than 50 million people woorldwide. It is characterized by recurrent seizures, abnormal behavior, and various extents of loss of awareness, which are caused by abnormal excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. Despite the availability of more than twenty approved antiepileptic drugs, a third of epileptic patients are not seizure-free, and there is a substantial need to develop safer and more effective treatments.
Our Technology
DHODH as a novel target for epilepsy treatment
A regulated homeostatic system is characterized by a set point, a physiological state held constant by various mechanisms, through sensors that detect deviations from it and effectors that precisely retarget to it via negative feedback. Neuronal activity is regulated by multiple homeostatic mechanisms that are necessary to ensure stable neuronal and network function. In silico transcriptome metabolic modeling revealed mitochondrial DHODH as a leading target that secures metabolic homeostasis of hyperexcitable hippocampal circuits. Inhibition of DHODH decreased the average level of spontaneous neuronal spiking activity, known as the mean firing rate (MFR). Â Mitochondria play a critical role in energy metabolism and Ca2+Â homeostasis in neurons. Under DHODH blockade Homeostatic responses of the MFR to activity perturbations were maintained, and MFR was identified as a potential set point of this homeostatic systems.
Science, People, Network
Our Team
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