Project Number
Convenors
Steering Committee chaired by:
- PaoloRiccioE-Mail
- Università degli Studi della BasilicataFaculty of AgricultureDepartment of Biology D.B.A.FPotenzaItaly
Abstract
This Network is galvanising European research into the role of myelin and its structure in a range of autoimmune degenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS). Myelin is the multi-layered membrane rich in lipids (fats) providing the electrically insulating sheath for axons, whose deterioration causes disease by disrupting the conduction of nerve impulses. Myelin structural research during the past 30 years is being rekindled by recent progress in a variety of key fields, notably biophysics, electron and scanning probe microscopy, x-ray crystallography, and bioinformatics. However Europe’s research effort in the field is fragmented and dominated by traditional specialists in neuroimmunology and cell biology. It is now recognised that collaboration between both traditional and newer fields in the biophysical and computational domains is necessary to make substantial progress, and this Network is conducting the task. There is great hope of success following a highly promising exploratory workshop in Potenza, Italy in June 2002, bringing together researchers from all the component fields, including 54 from Europe and 16 from North America, and also embracing existing practitioners of MS therapies. This workshop concluded that the overwhelming priority was to decipher how myelin is made in order to unravel how the mechanisms of assembly and function go wrong in the event of disease.
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