Meet The Researcher

When I’m not researching MS, you will likely find me researching the possible destinations for my next wildlife safari!

I first learnt about MS when our school librarian was diagnosed with MS and had become wheelchair bound. I recall participating in annual MS “readathons” to raise awareness and funds for this debilitating disease. As an adult, seeing such a huge social and economic burden with far too many young adults in the most productive phase of their lives being struck down by their own immune system (which is actually attempting to protect them!) gives me great motivation to work towards understanding this dysregulation of the immune system in MS and how this can be treated and ultimately, prevented.

The global effort over many years by the International MS Genetics Consortium (IMSGC) has identified over 200 genetic variants that increase a person’s risk of developing MS. These risk genes now require further study to identify their role in MS and how they may be targeted as MS therapies.

The findings of this research should lead to better ways to exploit vitamin D for therapy, including providing tools to assess the success or not of supplementation. Determining the molecular mechanism by which vitamin D confers protection from autoimmune diseases such as MS is crucial if patients are to benefit from the vitamin D findings to date. With this information, a rational approach can be used to devise assays to assess increased vitamin D function in immune cells, and to devise novel methods to promote the protective properties of the vitamin D pathway.

I enjoy the challenge of utilising the latest genetic research technologies to increase our understanding of the interactions between genetic and environmental risk factors of autoimmune diseases, particularly MS. As with all new technology, particularly in medical research, the experiments these new technologies enable become very costly. Choosing the best experiments and obtaining sufficient funding to enable their completion is an ongoing challenge.