Martin Gallagher's laboratory studies the molecular and cellular consequences of two genes associated with two different developmentally regulated epilepsy syndromes. Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) is a common epilepsy syndrome that begins in late childhood or early adolescence. A long-term goal of my laboratory is to determine why seizures and other JME symptoms begin at this developmental stage. The lab also is investigating juvenile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (JNCL), “Batten Disease,” an autosomal recessive progressive myoclonic epilepsy syndrome that begins in childhood and causes blindness, seizures, dementia, and early death.