Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common cause of neurological disability in young adults, affecting over 33,000 people in Australia and over 2.8 million people globally. There are treatments for relapsing forms of MS, but these are mostly ineffective in treating people living with progressive MS.
Associate Professor Justin Rubio and his team will study at genes from both single cells and human populations, to uncover any that may be involved in progressive MS and how they fit into the MS puzzle. Next, they will target these genes in human stem cells in the laboratory to understand their function in models of MS.
From this research, the team hope to discover potential drug targets for further investigation. The ultimate goal is to test newly developed drugs in clinical trials for progressive MS.
As a first step, Associate Professor Rubio and his team have focused on immune cells in the brain called microglia, that may be important in progressive MS.
They developed new laboratory methods to purify these cells from post-mortem MS brain tissue. The next step is to explore the genes of these cells and how they work in a laboratory model, to understand their potential role in MS.
Over the next 12 months, Associate Professor Rubio and his team will continue to investigate genetic changes in brain tissue including microglia to identify genes that may be involved in progressive MS.
Updated 31 March 2025
$650,000
2024
5 years
Current project
