NMSS Modulating microglial activity for treatment of demyelinating diseases of the CNS

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is the most common neurological disease of young adults, affecting approximately 2 million people worldwide. MS is characterized by inflammatory demyelination of the central nervous system (CNS), and while the last 20 years has seen a revolution in treatment of the early stages of MS, many patients still enter a phase of progressive neurodegeneration, refractory to current therapies. Lack of efficacy of therapies that directly target adaptive immune cells suggests that there are other drivers of pathology. In this project we investigate how specific genes in microglia affect the innate immune system to modulate the extent of remyelination that follows a demyelinating insult.