£1 million awarded for new MS research in Scotland

MS Society Scotland Director, Mark Hazelwood said:

“Scotland has the highest prevalence of multiple sclerosis in the world and we believe that it must make a major contribution to international research efforts to understand it. This latest round of grants will support a range of groundbreaking research projects aimed at improving understanding of the condition and finding potential ways of beating it. They are valuable additions to the wide range of research that we already support in Scotland and will provide many more opportunities for people with MS to be involved in this work.”

The grants that have been made in this round of awards include:

- a £259,535 award for the acclaimed work of Professor Chris Linington on brain tissue damage suffered by people with MS;

- an award of nearly £340,000 for research into the role of the protein CD46 in the regulation of T cells (white blood cells derived from the thymus gland) activation and its implications in MS; and

- £215,763 for a study on the genetics of multiple sclerosis in the Northern Isles of Scotland.

These latest awards, totalling £1,020,707 , mean that the MS Society is now currently investing a total of over £5 million in research projects in Scotland. The Society is also working with the Scottish Government on the establishment of a national MS register for Scotland which would allow a clearer picture of the incidence of MS to be built up. The register will also be a vital tool in supporting future scientific research into the condition in Scotland.