MS is a common neurological disease caused in part by inflammation in the brain and spinal cord. Current MS drugs treat the inflammation and reduce symptoms but do not treat the underlying and ongoing damage to nerves, which can result in functional decline.
Ms Michele Binder and her team discovered that a type of immune cell in the brain (microglia) that expresses an MS risk gene called MERTK, can promote the repair of myelin to protect nerves. Using this finding, Ms Binder and her team aim to develop a novel therapy to minimise the chance of future disability in people with MS.
Ms Binder and her team have made strong early progress in understanding how microglia expressing MERTK can support myelin repair in MS.
Since the start of the project, the team has begun building advanced laboratory models using human stem cells to study how myelin is damaged and repaired. These models include “mini brains” grown in the lab, which allow researchers to replicate and study key processes that occur in the human brain. Early work identified that the initial approach produced inconsistent results, so the team adapted their method to improve reliability. By introducing an intermediate step in the cell development process, they were able to generate more consistent models that better produce myelin, enabling more accurate study of repair processes.
Using this improved approach, the team has successfully generated both myelin-producing cells and microglia from the same cell source. This is an important step, as it allows them to study how MERTK-expressing microglia interact with myelin-producing cells during repair.
In parallel, the researchers have used protein analysis techniques to identify molecules produced by these microglia that may help promote myelin repair. This work has already identified several promising candidate molecules, which are now being tested to better understand their role in supporting remyelination.
The project has also developed new tools to track the growth and health of myelin-producing cells in real time, allowing the team to measure how well repair processes are working and how they are affected by microglia.
The next phase of the project will focus on testing these candidate molecules and determining how microglia can be targeted to enhance myelin repair.
This work is helping build a clearer picture of how to harness the brain’s own immune cells to support repair, with the long-term goal of developing new therapies to support myelin repair in MS.
Updated 31 March 2026
$249,803
2025
3 years
Current project
