Jeri Burtchell has written about the new MS grant at HealthlineNews - NIH Awards $1.9 Million to Study the Genetics of MS

The co-principal investigators are Steve Ziegler, Ph.D., a member of BRI and Director of the Immunology Research Program, and Estelle Bettelli, Ph.D., an assistant member of BRI.

“We want to understand the factors that make these cells target the spinal cord and brain to cause disease," said Bettelli in a press release. Bettelli and other scientists have identified different types of T cells, which they believe induce MS and other autoimmune diseases. She has also developed system models to study different forms of multiple sclerosis.

"This work highlights a key mechanism for understanding and modifying the immune cells that cause autoimmune diseases like MS," said BRI Director Gerald Nepom, M.D., Ph.D., in the press release. "It is an exciting example of the power of merging new genomic technologies with state-of-the-art immunology research to address a major clinical need."