Cameron Metcalf

About

Cameron S. Metcalf, Ph.D., is a Research Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology and the Associate Director of the Anticonvulsant Drug Development Program at the University of Utah. He has extensive experience in preclinical drug development for epilepsy, contributing significantly to the development and implementation of several rodent epilepsy models that are now part of the screening workflow for the NIH/NINDS Epilepsy Therapy Screening Program. The University of Utah has served as the Contract Site for this NIH program since its inception in 1975, and Dr. Metcalf currently serves as a Co-Investigator for this award. His work has been instrumental in advancing drug development efforts for lead compounds from multiple pharmaceutical companies, with products at various stages of preclinical and clinical development. Prior to his current role, Dr. Metcalf was a Senior Scientist and Project Manager at NeuroAdjuvants, Inc., where he focused on drug screening and development for epilepsy and pain indications using modified neuropeptide analogs. He is the author of more than 35 peer-reviewed publications and has served as an editorial board member and ad-hoc reviewer for several scientific journals.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Pharmacology
• Internal medicine
• Anesthesia
• Psychiatry
• Neuroscience
• Chemistry
• Pediatrics
• Engineering ethics
• Pathology

Selected publications

• Precision medicine for genetic epilepsy on the horizon: Recent advances, present challenges, and suggestions for continued progress

  Epilepsia · 2022 · 137 citations

  The genetic basis of many epilepsies is increasingly understood, giving rise to the possibility of precision treatments tailored to specific genetic etiologies. Despite this, current medical therapy for most epilepsies remains imprecise, aimed primarily at empirical seizure reduction rather than targeting specific disease processes. Intellectual and technological leaps in diagnosis over the past 10 years have not yet translated to routine changes in clinical practice. However, the epilepsy commu…

  DOI

• Development of an antiseizure drug screening platform for Dravet syndrome at the NINDS contract site for the Epilepsy Therapy Screening Program

  Epilepsia · 2021 · 46 citations

  OBJECTIVE: mouse. METHODS: mice had seizures. RESULTS: survive to adulthood and all have hyperthermia-induced seizures. The results suggest that hyperthermia-induced seizures in this model of DS are highly refractory to a battery of ASDs. Exceptions were clobazam, tiagabine, levetiracetam, and the combination of clobazam and valproic acid with add-on stiripentol, which elevated seizure thresholds. SIGNIFICANCE: Overall, the data demonstrate that the proposed model for DS is suitable for screenin…

  PublisherDOI

• Preventing neuronal edema increases network excitability after traumatic brain injury

  Journal of Clinical Investigation · 2020 · 43 citations

  Edema is an important target for clinical intervention after traumatic brain injury (TBI). We used in vivo cellular resolution imaging and electrophysiological recording to examine the ionic mechanisms underlying neuronal edema and their effects on neuronal and network excitability after controlled cortical impact (CCI) in mice. Unexpectedly, we found that neuronal edema 48 hours after CCI was associated with reduced cellular and network excitability, concurrent with an increase in the expressio…

  DOI

• Spontaneous recurrent seizures in an intra-amygdala kainate microinjection model of temporal lobe epilepsy are differentially sensitive to antiseizure drugs

  Experimental Neurology · 2021 · 34 citations

  The discovery and development of novel antiseizure drugs (ASDs) that are effective in controlling pharmacoresistant spontaneous recurrent seizures (SRSs) continues to represent a significant unmet clinical need. The Epilepsy Therapy Screening Program (ETSP) has undertaken efforts to address this need by adopting animal models that represent the salient features of human pharmacoresistant epilepsy and employing these models for preclinical testing of investigational ASDs. One such model that has…

  PublisherDOI

• Cannabidiolic acid exhibits entourage-like improvements of anticonvulsant activity in an acute rat model of seizures

  Epilepsy Research · 2020 · 33 citations

  OBJECTIVES: Cannabidiolic acid (CBDa) is pharmacologically unique from cannabidiol (CBD), but its chemical instability poses challenges for potential clinical utility. Here, we used magnesium ions to stabilize two cannabidiolic acid-enriched hemp extracts (Mg-CBDa and Chylobinoid, the latter of which also contains minor cannabinoid constituents) and compared their anticonvulsant activities with CBD in the maximal electroshock seizure test (MES) in rats. METHODS: Sprague-Dawley rats received intr…

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Karen S. Wilcox

  University of Utah

  33 shared

• H. Steve White

  University of Washington

  20 shared

• Peter J. West

  University of Utah

  16 shared

• Misty D. Smith

  University of Utah

  15 shared

• Brian D. Klein

  National Institutes of Health

  12 shared

• Kristina Johnson

  Harvard University

  10 shared

• Steven L. Bealer

  University of Utah

  10 shared

• Grzegorz Bułaj

  University of Utah

  9 shared

Labs

• Metcalf LabPI

  Focusing on epilepsy, pain, and neurology research in the PharmTox department

Education

• PhD, Pharmacology & Toxicology

  University of Utah

  2008

Similar researchers at University of Utah

• Randall Petersonh-105
• Dr. Peter J. Westh-94