More Du Pré Grants for 2014 announced

The second wave of 2014 grants includes scientists from Iran, Italy, Romania and Russia

Last updated: 7th November 2014

The MS International Federation has awarded four more Du Pré Grants for 2014, adding to those announced earlier in the year.

Du Pré Grants enable young MS researchers to make short visits to established MS research centres, either to learn from each other or to take part in joint research projects.

The second wave of grants went to young researchers from Iran, Italy, Romania and Russia:

Dr Alessandro d’Ambrosio, 31, has worked as a resident in neurology at the MS Centre in Naples since 2007. He has taken part in research on the use of MRI techniques to study MS. His work has been presented at international congresses such as the American Association of Neurology, and published in international peer-reviewed journals.

Dr d’Ambrosio will spend four months working with Dr Valentina Tomassini at the Brain Research Imagery Centre at Cardiff University, testing the effect of altered cerebrovascular reactivity on brain plasticity in patients with MS.

Shokufeh Sadaghiani, 26, is a research fellow and medical intern at the Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Iran. She will spend six months at the New York University School of Medicine, working with Dr Yulin Ge on the implementation of a novel pH-weighted imaging technique (a new type of MRI imaging marker) as a potential surrogate marker for subsequent axonal injury and demyelination.

Ekaterina Terskikh, 25, is a Russian neurologist working at the Siberia State Medical University in Tomsk. She will spend six months working with Dr Amit Bar-Orr at the Montreal Neurological Institute in Canada, examining micro RNA profiles in CSF and serum of patients with MS, and their relation to disease activity and rates of progression.

Aurelian Ungureanu, 30, is a final-year resident doctor at the Academic Emergency Hospital in Sibiu, Romania. He will spend six months working with Dr Klemens Ruprecht at Charité Universitätsmedizin in Berlin. He will look at whether CSF protein levels correlate with MRI markers of neurodegeneration and clinical measurements of disability in patients with MS, and could thus represent a biomarker for the neurodegenerative components of MS.

Find out how to apply for a Du Pré Grant

Dr Alessandro d’Ambrosio