As a teenage student athlete, Emily Bates hated never knowing when the next migraine would strike, disrupting her schoolwork, practices and competitions. Now it’s payback time.
The BYU chemistry professor published research this week in Science Translational Medicine that identifies mutations in a gene that makes people more susceptible to migraine headaches. The study is the first demonstration of a genetic cause for the common migraine and is an important step in the search for a cure.
“I had migraines really frequently and severely,” Bates said. “I would lose my vision, vomit uncontrollably – it would wipe out an entire day. I decided then as a high school student that I was going to work on migraines, that I was going to figure them out and help find a cure.”