August 31, 2021 News by Steve Bryson, PhD COVID-19 Vaccine Trial Testing Extra Dose in MS, Other Diseases A new clinical trial launched by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is evaluating the impact of an extra dose of an approved or authorized COVID-19 vaccine in people withĀ multiple sclerosis (MS) and other autoimmune diseasesĀ who did not properly respond to an original vaccine regimen. Approximately 600 people will…
August 24, 2021 News by Marisa Wexler, MS New Research Project Will Study Nerve Cell-Glia Communication A new research project, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), aims to better understand how different types of cells in the nervous system ā specifically neurons and glia cells ā communicate with each other and ultimately affect both motor and non-motor functions. Its findings may have important implications…
September 22, 2020 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD NIH Awards $2.3M to Bioengineer to Advance Diagnosis, Treatment of Autoimmune Diseases TheĀ National Institutes of HealthĀ (NIH) awarded a $2.3 million grant to a bioengineer at Indiana Universityās Luddy SchoolĀ of Informatics, Computing and Engineering to improve diagnosis and treatment of autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosisĀ (MS). The project aims to find ways to detectĀ disease-associated cells based on their ability…
June 16, 2020 News by Mary Chapman $7.2M NIH Grant Supports Study of MS Diagnostic Biomarker The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded a $7.2 million grant to a team led byĀ Cleveland ClinicĀ researchers that will study whether a new biomarker might more accurately diagnoseĀ multiple sclerosis (MS). Grant money will support a study in 400 adults suspected of having MS to determine if the…
June 11, 2020 News by Marisa Wexler, MS NIH Backs Project Examining Failure of Immune Tolerance Leading to Autoimmune Disease A new research project will seek to understand the development of immune cells that drive autoimmune diseases such asĀ multiple sclerosis (MS). The project will be led by Leszek Ignatowicz, PhD, a professor in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University, and will be funded by…
December 17, 2019 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Einstein Researchers Receive Grant to Study Brain Activity Related to Fall Risk in MS Patients A grantĀ awarded recently by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will fund research to explore how brain changes in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients affect mobility. The five-year grant (1R01NS109023-01A1), totaling $3.5 million, was awarded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of…
October 31, 2019 News by Iqra Mumal, MSc Brain Bank at Harvard Gets Potential $12.8M from NIH to Support Brain Donations for MS and Other Research The Harvard Brain Tissue Resource CenterĀ atĀ McLean Hospital, also known as the Brain Bank, has signed a new, potentially $12.8 millionĀ contract with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that allows it to continue to collect brain specimens from donors with a range of neurological and psychiatric disorders, including…
August 16, 2019 News by Ana Pena PhD Dark Rimmed Brain Lesions May Be Signal of Aggressive Disease, NIH Study Says Brain lesions appearing as dark rimmed, “smoldering” spots on imaging scans, representing active inflammation, may be a hallmark of more aggressive and disabling forms of multiple sclerosis (MS), researchers at theĀ National Institutes of Health (NIH) report. Using a powerful MRI brain scanner and a 3D printer, the…
July 29, 2019 News by Ana Pena PhD $1.83M NIH Grant Supports Trial into STEM, Learning and Memory Training for Adults with MS The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded a $1.83 million grant to aĀ Kessler Foundation researcher leading a clinical trial to test if a month-long cognitive training program can improve learning and memory in adults with multiple sclerosis (MS). Nancy Chiaravalloti, PhD, director of the Centers…
December 11, 2018 News by Alice MelĆ£o, MSc WUSTL Team Receives $6.3 Million Grant to Develop PET Scan Tracers The Washington University School of Medicine in St. LouisĀ (WUSTL) will create a new research center to investigate and advance the development of tracers for positron emission tomography (PET) scans. The center, which will be established at WUSTLās Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology (MIR), is going to focus on the…
November 1, 2018 News by Ana Pena PhD Stopping Thrombin’s Release in Brain May Prevent Myelin Loss in Diseases Like MS, Mouse Study Suggests Myelin loss might be prevented by astrocytes, a brain cell that regulates myelin’s thickness in coating nerve fibers to support the proper transmission of nerve signals, after astrocytes were seen toĀ block an enzyme called thrombin inĀ a study from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Its…
October 8, 2018 News by Alice MelĆ£o, MSc UVA Scientist Awarded $5.6M by NIH to Further Study Lymph System and Brain Connection Jonathan Kipnis, the researcher who discovered that lymphatic vessels are important mediators of the underlying molecular mechanism of multiple sclerosis (MS), has received the prestigious Directorās Pioneer Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This prize recognizes researchers who have made important contributions to the development of new…
April 3, 2018 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD Study Receives $1.7M from NIH to Research New Therapeutic Strategies for MS, Others A new project aimed at boosting the development of new therapies for multiple sclerosis (MS) and other demyelinating diseases recently won $1.7 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In the five-year study, a research team at theĀ University at BuffaloĀ (part of the State University…
March 9, 2018 News by Patricia Silva, PhD NIH Trial Confirms Raxone’s Safety Profile in PPMS, Santhera Reports An exploratory Phase 1/2 clinical trial in primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) conducted at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) confirms the safety profile of Raxone (idebenone)Ā at a dose of 2,250 mg daily over two years. But no difference in effectiveness was found between the Raxone-treated group and…
October 6, 2017 News by Ashraf Malhas, PhD Evidence of Lymph Vessels in Human Brain May Offer New Insights into MS, Other Disorders Groundbreaking evidence of the existence of lymphatic vessels in the human brain could answer the question of how the brain gets rid of waste products, and holds clear implications for neuroinflammatory disorders such as multiple sclerosis. The lymphatic system is a network that helps the body to rid itself of toxins and waste products. Lymphatic vessels, which are similar to blood vessels, transport a clear fluid ā lymph ā which is filtered in lymph nodes. It has long been thought that the brain lacks lymphatic vessels. However, a team of researchers at theĀ National Institutes of Health (NIH), building on previous research in rodent brains, recently found evidence that the brain may actually drain waste through lymphatic vessels. The researchers injected healthy volunteers with a magnetic dye called gadobutrol, which is usually used as a contrast agent to image blood vessels. They then scanned the brains of these individuals using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) under specific settings. This allowed them to view the dye within the outer layer of the brain, known as the dura. The MRI revealed that the dye was visible both as dots and straight lines, which might indicate lymph vessels. This suggested that the dye leaked out of blood vessels into the dura and were later 'picked up' by lymphatic vessels. These vessels were not seen when the volunteers were injected with another dye that does not leak out of blood vessels.Ā Evidence of lymphatic vessels in the brain was also found in autopsied human brain tissue. Although a pair of 2015 studies had shown evidence of lymphatic vessels in the brains of mice, this is the first study that demonstrates that a similar system exists in human brains.Ā āFor years we knew how fluid entered the brain. Now we may finally see that, like other organs in the body, brain fluid can drain out through the lymphatic system,ā Reich saidĀ . In addition to changing the way we think about the lymphatic system and the brain, this study lays the foundations for future research to investigate whether the function of the lymphatic system is altered in the brains of patients with multiple sclerosis or other disorders affecting the nervous system.
August 23, 2017 News by Rachita Narsaria, MD Nortis Awarded $688K Grant from NIH to Develop ‘Living’ Model of Blood-Brain Barrier for Research Nortis, a Seattle-based biotech company, has received a $688,000 grant by the National Institutes of Health to create a living, 3-D model of the human blood-brain barrier that will be used for laboratory testing to accelerate drug development and lessen the likelihood of failure in clinical trials. This grant provides funding for a third year of a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award given to Nortis by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), a branch of the NIH. SBIR provides grants to U.S.-based small businesses to do federal research and enable the commercialization of technology. The blood-brain barrier is a tissue barrier that only allows certain molecules to pass from blood vessels into the brain. It is a protective mechanism to prevent the entry of foreign bodies and infection-causing organisms in the brain. Researchers are trying to find ways of delivering medications across this barrier, to reach brain tissues to treat diseases that include multiple sclerosis. "Understanding how drugs are transported across the blood-brain barrier and interact with the brain presents a significant scientific challenge," Thomas Neumann, CEO of Nortis and principal investigator on the project, said in a press release. "More predictive preclinical models based on human tissue are urgently needed to reduce costs and minimize clinical trial failures," he added. "This grant will help us develop new in-vitro alternatives to traditional pharmaceutical drug development testing on laboratory animals."
June 15, 2017 News by Joana Fernandes, PhD IQuity Given $1M NIH Grant to Advance Research into RNA-based Diagnostic Tests for MS The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a $1 million grant to IQuity, a Nashville-based company looking into novel RNA targets that ultimately benefit patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and other autoimmune disorders. The NIH grant is part of the institute’sĀ Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.
January 23, 2017 News by Patricia Silva, PhD MS Researcher at Cleveland Clinic Awarded $7M to Pursue Ways of Stopping Myelin Damage TwoĀ Cleveland Clinic researchers were awarded multi-year grants by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), underĀ itsĀ Outstanding Investigator Award,Ā to find new treatments for multiple sclerosis (MS) and other complex diseases. Bruce Trapp, PhD, an expert in myelin biology and MS, will receive about $7 million over eight years under the…
November 29, 2016 News by Joana Fernandes, PhD NIH Grant to Support Research into Role of Copper in Demyelination The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded a $45,000 grant to a team of investigators, led by Tia Walker, PhD, atĀ Indiana University Northwest, to supportĀ aĀ research project into the role of copper in multiple sclerosis (MS). The award is a first for IU Northwest, and will allow the team to…
September 26, 2016 News by Charles Moore StemGenex CSO Tells FDA at Hearing to Regulate Adult Stem Cell Therapies as ‘Blood Tissue Product’ In a presentation at a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) public hearing earlier this month, the chief scientific officer of StemGenex Medical Group,Ā Steven A. Brody, MD, PhD, said succinctly: “Stem cells have arrived and have captivated the scientific and medical communities. With this excitement comes responsibility and with this…
September 22, 2016 News by Charles Moore Information on Clinical Trials to Be More Complete and Accessible Under New HHS Rules The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recentlyĀ announced policy changes designed to make information about clinical trials of investigational drugs, biologics and products more widelyĀ available to the public, issuing amended rulesĀ that specify the requirements for registering clinical trials and for submitting summary results to itsĀ ClinicalTrials.govĀ website. The…
August 31, 2016 Columns by admin Welcome or Not, FDA Focuses on Stem Cell Treatments News that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is to hold a public hearing next month to consider greater oversight of stem cell clinics operating in the country is as welcome as it is late. I say “late” because, while the regulators have been twiddling their fingers,…
December 30, 2015 News by Patricia Silva, PhD NIH Grant to Advance Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Targeting Remyelination Novoron Bioscience, Inc., a biotech company focused on developing therapies for disorders of the central nervous system, recently announced that it has received a $680,000 National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to assess the potential of a new therapeutic approach to induce remyelination in multiple sclerosis (MS). MS is…
September 11, 2014 News by Patricia Silva, PhD Multiple Sclerosis Trial for Lisinopril Granted $1.4 Million in New Funding From NCATS Transparency Life Sciences, LLCĀ (TLS), the first clinical-stage drugĀ development company based on open innovation in the world, recentlyĀ receivedĀ a $1.4 millionĀ Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant intended for its phase IIa proof-of-concept study, which is assessing the utility of the ACE inhibitor lisinopril as an adjunctive treatment for patients with multiple…