We are pleased to announce that the Morgan Mansell Fund recently ticked over the $10,000 mark in grants made towards MS research, including the fantastic research being undertaken by Prof Helmut Butzkueven’s team at Monash. Their ground breaking research into why MS symptoms decline for most women during pregnancy has far wider implications as it may unlock entirely new ways of treating MS in the general population.
MS is a disease that is often diagnosed in women between the ages of 20 and 40, and at a time when many are starting a family. It has been discovered that for most women, MS activity naturally becomes much quieter during pregnancy and then ramps up again after the baby is born. The research team is currently studying the changes to the immune system, hormones and other biological processes that occur during pregnancy, and to understand what naturally protects women from MS during this time. If the key mechanisms responsible for this protection can be identified, they could become targets for future treatments that benefit everyone living with MS, and not just women who are pregnant.
The Morgan Mansell Fund is very supportive of this very exciting research and their program of comparing the immune systems of 35 expecting mothers (with MS) against 35 expecting mothers (without MS) from the time of falling pregnant, through pregnancy, and out to one year after the birth of their baby. Their findings will then be related to their clinical outcomes and brain MRI scans to help a better understanding of the biology of pregnancy in MS and identify promising new directions for treatment. Find out more about the Monash Study
Don't MS with Morgs 