A study at Queen’s University Belfast which could eventually lead to new treatments for Multiple Sclerosis has been awarded £425,000 by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, BBSRC.
There are currently about 100,000 people in the UK with MS which affects the ability of nerve cells in the brain, spinal cord and eye, to communicate with each other effectively.
The research at the Queen’s Centre for Infection and Immunity, will investigate how parts of the immune system can help repair the damage caused by MS attacks.
The project is being led by Dr Denise Fitzgerald, who experienced a condition similar to MS, called Transverse Myelitis when she was 21. As a result of inflammation in her spinal cord, she was paralysed in less than two hours.
Dr Fitzgerald had to learn to walk again as the damage in her spinal cord repaired itself over the following months and years. It is this natural repair process that often becomes inefficient in MS.
Dr Fitzgerald said: “Nerve cells communicate by sending signals along nerve fibres which are contained within a fatty, insulating, protective substance, known as Myelin. In MS, Myelin is attacked and damaged. This research project centres around understanding Myelination, a process of insulating the nerve fibres with Myelin, and Remyelination, a natural regenerative process that replaces damaged Myelin.”
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