The National MS Society’s research leaves no stone unturned in the relentless pursuit of ways to prevent, treat and cure MS. Finding a way to prevent MS will require understanding the genes that make people susceptible to developing the disease, and also identifying the environmental trigger or triggers so that those triggers can be avoided or otherwise de-railed so that MS is prevented from developing.
Finding better treatments and a cure requires better understanding of the immune attack in MS and the resulting injury to the central nervous system. For people who already live with disability caused by MS, a cure would mean stopping the immune attack and finding a way to reverse the damage to restore function. Our research addresses these areas and many more:
- Therapy of MS: searching for treatments for all forms of MS including better management of symptoms
- Understanding the Immune System: exploring the role of the body’s complex immune system in the development, progression and possible suppression of MS
- Searching for Triggering Factors: Epidemiology studies to identify risk or protective factors, explorations of how an infection or infections might trigger MS, and studies of how the immune system interacts with environmental factors to cause autoimmunity
- Searching for MS genes: Identifying and studying genes that influence susceptibility, course and response to therapy
- Exploring Gender Differences: Explorations of why women and men are affected differently by MS have already led to clinical trials of sex hormones
- Rehabilitation Research: Rehabilitation regimens can help people with MS achieve maximal physical, psychological, social and vocational potential, but to convince doctors and insurers that rehabilitation really does help, there needs to be scientific evidence that can only come from carefully conducted studies
- Understanding Tissue Damage: The immune attack in MS unleashes a cascade of events that damage the wire-like arms of nerve cells (axons) and the insulating tissue (myelin) that wraps around axons and speeds nerve signal transmission. Understanding the processes that lead to tissue damage in MS is crucial to efforts to protect the central nervous system
- Repairing Damaged Tissues: Large-scale efforts are underway to repair and protect nervous system tissues damaged by MS
- Studying Psychosocial Aspects of MS: Exploring how MS impacts the thinking and mood of persons with MS and their family members and searching for strategies to help
- Health-Care Delivery & Policy: Studying issues of health care access and quality to improve care for people with MS
SPECIAL TOPICS AND FUNDING PROGRAMS
- Collaborative MS Research Centers - These special centers combine the expertise of top MS researchers with scientists outside the field of MS who are using cutting-edge technologies to engage in large-scale explorations, gaining from each other’s experience
- Research on Progressive MS - Although most of the MS research studies the Society is supporting explore virtually every aspect of the disease and more basic aspects of how the nervous system and immune system works, some studies focus specifically on progressive forms of MS
- High-Risk Pilot Research - We fast-track these one-year grants to quickly test novel ideas
- Targeted Initiatives - funding vital MS research and care through the Promise: 2010 Initiative and speeding treatments to people with MS through Fast Forward.
Read more about the scope and philosophy of our research programs.