NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Lori L. Isom Ph.D., F.A.E.S, was presented with the 2022 Basic Science Research Award during the 2022 Annual Meeting of the American Epilepsy Society (AES). The Research Recognition Awards are the Society's highest research awards, to encourage and recognize active basic science and clinical investigators whose research contributes importantly to understanding and conquering epilepsy.
Dr. Isom is the Maurice H. Seevers Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmacology, Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, and Professor of Neurology at the University of Michigan Medical School. She serves as co-chair of the Dravet Syndrome Foundation Scientific Advisory Board and served as a Board member of the AES. She has received awards for research and mentoring, including a NINDS Javits R37 MERIT award and the University of Michigan Rackham Distinguished Graduate Mentoring Award. She is co-PI of the NINDS-funded EpiMVP Center Without Walls. Her research program focuses on voltage-gated sodium channel function and the roles of sodium channel gene variants in developmental and epileptic encephalopathy.
Dr. Isom’s lab investigates SCN1A, SCN1B, and SCN8A variants in mouse models and in human induced pluripotent stem cell neurons and cardiac myocytes. Most recently, she collaborated with Stoke Therapeutics to develop the first antisense oligonucleotide precision therapeutic agent for Dravet syndrome, which is now in clinical trials.
Dr. Isom is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Fellow of the American Epilepsy Society, and a Fellow of the American Society for Pharmacology and Therapeutics. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2021.