Currently 100,000 people in the United Kingdom have MS, which affects the ability of nerve cells in the brain, spinal cord and eye, to communicate with each other effectively.

A legacy gift of £184,000 received in 2021, will springboard research carried out by Dr Denise Fitzgerald and her team in the Wellcome Wolfson Centre for Experimental Medicine at Queen’s. Dr Fitzgerald experienced a condition similar to MS, called Transverse Myelitis when she was 21. As a result of inflammation in her spinal cord, she was paralysed in less than two hours and had to learn to walk again as the damage in her spinal cord repaired itself.

MS is a chronic life-long condition, and this failure of repair can lead to permanent disability. Boosting this natural repair process in the brain and spinal cord is the next frontier in treating MS, as currently there are no drugs that are proven to do so.

Speaking about the importance of the research, Dr Fitzgerald said: “The central goal of our research is to identify new strategies to treat MS and other inflammatory and demyelinating disorders and  philanthropy can help us to do this more quickly”.

To support MS research with a personal donation, contact Teresa Sloan, Head of Medical Fundraising on t.sloan@qub.ac.uk.