Tyneside scientists are testing a new technique which could revolutionise the treatment of epilepsy.

Newcastle University is leading a project to develop a brain implant which uses light waves to try to counteract the disrupted brain activity which causes epileptic seizures.

The £10m project, funded jointly by the Wellcome Trust and EPSRC, will last seven years and will involve designing a small device, about the size of a drawing pin, and implanting it into the patient’s brain. It will continually monitor and interact with brain activity.

The technique will also involve a form of gene therapy called optogenetics, which will be used to make the specific neurons which need to be targeted light sensitive.

Teams from Imperial College and UCL universities will collaborate with the North East academics on the CANDO project, which could help some of the 600,00 people in the UK who suffer from the condition.

People like Emma Dowling, 28, who has lived with epilepsy since she was a girl.

When she was diagnosed at eight years old she was put on drug treatment, and then later had surgery to remove part of her brain.

Emma said: “I started hearing voices and would suddenly stop what I was doing when I was younger, which can be an early sign of epilepsy. The drugs I was put on have quite severe side effects and were affecting my memory, which made it harder at school.

“They also became less effective as I got older and I started having seizures more frequently. Some would be ‘Grand Mal’ seizures where I’d shake on the floor but others would be lower key ones where my brain just zoned out. I had a couple of those during job interviews. It really affects your confidence.

“Eventually I had surgery when I was 25 but I still have auras and take some drugs as well. I have been offered more surgery but there are side effects to that as well, and it just feels funny that they are removing parts of your brain.

“Something like this project which could stop seizures before they happen and doesn’t involve removing brain cells would be amazing for epilepsy sufferers like me.

“I have managed to get on with my life and I have a job now but it has been a lot harder for me because of my condition.”

Dr Andrew Jackson, a Wellcome Trust fellow in neuroscience, and Professor Anthony O’Neill, Siemens professor of microelectronics, will lead the research.

Dr Jackson said: “This is a new way of trying to prevent seizures before they happen. Currently implants only kick in once the seizure has started, which is often too late. If our technique works then it should be more effective and make a real difference to patients’ lives.”

The implant will be tested using human brain slices removed during surgery, computer modelling and animal models.

The current usual treatment for epilepsy is drugs, but for about a third of patients they have limited impact.

Surgery is an option for some patients, but not all, and the currently-available implants work in such a way that means they only start to operate once a seizure has started, and it is often too late by then.

The new device will monitor the brain’s neurons to try to act before a seizure starts, providing a more effective solution.

Dr Roger Whittaker, clinical senior lecturer and honorary consultant clinical neurophysiologist, in the Newcastle Hospitals Foundation Trust, who leads the clinical aspects of the project, said: “Patients who can’t rely on drugs to help them with their epilepsy can really suffer.

“This innovative approach could offer a better long-term solution for that group and really have a positive impact.”