RESEARCH into the genetic causes of epilepsy has received a cash boost after a £50,000 donation from the Buckinghamshire Freemasons.

The group gave the Chalfont St Peter-based Epilepsy Society the cash windfall in order for the charity to fund work into finding a molecular cause to the condition.

The Freemasons' Provincial Grand Master Gordon Robertson and Provincial Grand Secretary Derek Watts both visited the centre to meet the Society's lead geneticist Sanjay Sisodiya to discuss their work.

Prof Sisodiya said: "I am grateful to the Freemasons’ Grand Charity for its generous grant to support our work. Research contributes to a growing understanding of the link between genomic changes and their final consequences in epilepsy.

"This will increase our knowledge of the particular mechanisms of epilepsy in individual people and in future lead to a personalised treatment of epilepsy."