One Million Dollars in Grants Awarded to Johns Hopkins MS Researchers
Grants Part of National $50 Million Annual Investment in over 380 New and Ongoing MS Research Projects
January, 2007
The National Multiple Sclerosis Society has just committed $26 million to support 67 new MS research projects as part of its current $50 million international effort to spur momentum in cutting-edge MS research.
More than $1,000,000 of these funds were allocated to four scientists at Johns Hopkins. This financial commitment is the latest investment in the Society's relentless research effort to cure, treat and better understand MS.
"With its cutting-edge research, the National MS Society is laying the groundwork to solve the mystery that is multiple sclerosis so that we can eradicate it once and for all," says Rick Smith, President of the Society's Maryland Chapter. "This year, the Society will spend some $50 million to fund over 380 new and ongoing MS research projects. This investment in critical research is paying off with new treatments and better methods of diagnosis, rehabilitation and symptom management."
To ensure the scientific merit of each research proposal selected, the National MS Society relies on expert advisory committees that include more than 70 world-class scientists who volunteer their time to carefully evaluate hundreds of proposals each year.
In Maryland, four research grants were given to researchers at Johns Hopkins University:
Susan M. Courtney, Ph.D., who is developing a more precise method to measure tissue injury in the pathways that allow brain regions involved in cognitive function to communicate with each other. Twenty people with MS are undergoing brain scans with two new imaging methods called magnetization transfer imaging (MTI) and diffusion sensor imaging (DTI). These scans are determining the extent of injury in brain pathways. Subjects are also undergoing functional MRI, which can detect which areas of the brain are being used during different cognitive tasks. All of the measurements are then being coordinated to determine the relationship between structural injuries to tissues that occur in MS and actual cognitive functioning.
Nicoline Schiess, MD, who is studying a protein that may serve as a measurable indicator or 'biomarker' for MS. Dr. Schiess is testing body fluid samples from 100 people with various forms of MS for the presence of cystatin C, a protein, and its smaller components. The results will then be compared with those from people with other autoimmune diseases in hopes that its presence differentiates MS from other disorders.
Jeff Bulte, Ph.D., who is studying the transplant of replacement cells into areas of damage, while studying how fast these cells move within the brain, if they enable myelin repair and which cells and experimental conditions are most beneficial.
Cynthia DeBoy, Ph.D., who is focusing on a molecule called FLT-3, a receptor or docking site, that is present on the surface of microglia, which are small, spider-shaped brain cells that appear to play an important part in MS by contributing to the immune-mediated destruction of myelin. Dr. DeBoy is studying the clinical and anti-flammatory effects of a drug that binds to and disables the FLT-3 receptor.
"It is an exciting time in MS research with hundreds of promising research projects in the pipeline," said Smith. "Thanks to the commitment of scientists such as these, the National MS Society is getting closer every day to stopping MS in its tracks."
The Maryland Chapter contributes funds toward this research effort. The Chapter is currently funding more than $8.2 million in Maryland-based research, including Dr. Peter Calabresi's $4.8 million nerve protection and repair research project and the Chapter's commitment to Promise: 2010.
In addition to the projects at Hopkins, the Maryland Chapter funds projects at the University of Maryland at Baltimore, University of Maryland Biotech Institute and Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
There are already six FDA-approved drugs that can impact the underlying disease course in people with the more common forms of MS. However, none of these drugs can stop or cure the disease. The National MS Society funded basic research that helped lead to the development of each of these drugs, and continues to advance research that will help end the devastating effects of MS.
