UMH Researcher Receives One Million Dollars from the United States to Investigate Multiple Sclerosis

A researcher from the Institute of Neurosciences at Miguel Hernández University and the Spanish National Research Council has received a significant financial boost to continue her research in the field of multiple sclerosis.

Isabel Pérez Otaño, who leads a team of specialists in Elche and investigates the regeneration of this disease, has secured a grant of over one million dollars from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society of the United States. The grant aims to support her project, which combats an ailment affecting 2.8 million people worldwide.

Pérez's team has discovered a brain receptor that could unlock myelin plasticity and promote its regeneration. Multiple sclerosis is a neurological disease that affects the central nervous system by destroying myelin, a sheath that covers nerve fibers and aids communication between neurons.

When myelin is damaged, the flow of information between the brain and the rest of the body is interrupted, causing various symptoms such as partial loss of vision, walking difficulties, or balance issues. The team led by the UMH researcher will seek to identify the mechanisms responsible for myelin plasticity to develop strategies that stimulate it and help regenerate affected nerve fibers.

The award granted to Pérez, who conducts her research on the Sant Joan campus, is part of the 'Pathways to Cure' program by the U.S. Multiple Sclerosis Society, which funds innovative therapeutic approaches.

"Our brains have an inherent regenerative mechanism called remyelination, which activates spontaneously after damage to form new myelin sheaths and can be initiated with cognitive and rehabilitation therapies," explains the researcher, who emphasizes that this "fails with age and disease progression, leading to irreversible disability."