MS International Federation announces first wave of 2014 Du Pré Grants

The MS International Federation has announced its first six Du Pré Grants for 2014. These grants offer young researchers a chance to make short visits to other MS research centres to learn more or to carry out parts of joint research projects.

• Mahboobeh Fereidan-Esfahani, a medical student from Isfahan University of Medical Science, Iran, who will use her grant to travel to the University of Göttingen in Germany to work with Professor Wolfgang Bruck, looking at the differential role of B cell subsets in the central nervous system in EAE.
• Dr. Mauricio Farez, a neurology resident from Argentina, who will travel to Harvard Medical School to work with Dr. Francisco Quintana on the role of melatonin in MS pathogenesis.
• Jibin Sadasivan, an Integrated BS MS student from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Kolkata, India. Jibin will travel to the University of Colorado, USA, to work with Professor Randall Cohrs on the dynamic regulation of host immune mediators in the central nervous system during mouse hepatitis virus-induced acute and chronic inflammation.
• Nadine Akbar, a PhD student from Canada, who will travel to the University of Florence in Italy to work with Professor Maria Pia Amato, examining resiliency factors for cognitive decline in paediatric-onset MS.
• Richard Yates, a PhD student from the UK, who will spend three months at the University of British Columbia in Canada, working with Dr Wayne Moore on high-resolution myelin water imaging in post-mortem MS spinal cord and correlations with histopathology.
• Dr Yael Hacohen, a paediatric registrar from the UK, who will use her grant to travel to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, USA, to work with Professor Brenda Banwell on defining brain directed autoantibodies in childhood relapsing demyelination syndromes.

The Du Pré Grants are awarded twice a year. Find out how to apply.