Activities
- Young scientists short visit grants and courses
Meetings of the Steering Committee in 2004 and 2006
The 1st Steering Committee took place on 22 May 2004 in Roma (Italy)
The 2nd Steering Committee took place on 3rd May 2005 in Potenza (Italy)
a Conference took place on 1-5 May in 2005 in Potenza (IT), followed by a one-day course on Bioinformatics and Autoimmunity on 6th May
Establishment of dissemination of information
For more information on MARIE Network activities Go to website
More about this Network
Building upon historical research, an important need exists to further develop our understanding of the structural biology, intermolecular interactions and role of myelin proteins. Such knowledge is required to illuminate the pathogenic mechanisms of demyelinating diseases, and in particular the effects of soluble myelinotoxic factors such as cytokines, antibodies, free oxygen radicals and matrix metalloproteinases.
This Network is founded largely on the premise that the time is now ripe for substantial progress following a reinvigoration of research. The ability to delve more deeply into the structures of constituent proteins has become possible through improved crystallisation techniques and progress with imaging via scanning probe microscopy and x-ray diffraction. These techniques will also complement more general approaches employed for the analysis of molecular complexes (e.g. by confocal microscopy). At the same time, a breakthrough in genetic and protein sequence analysis through microarray techniques, allied to data retrieval, analysis and 3D native protein modelling provides the potential to determine the overall structure of myelin and its constituent proteins far more accurately than before. Furthermore immunological studies have demonstrated the degenerate recognition of antigens by T cells and highlighted the need to understand the structure of the peptides involved in MHC-T cell receptor interplay.
These various breakthroughs have come in several previously distinct fields, and so to exploit them for myelin research requires collaboration between the respective researchers that has not taken place much before. This has proved a sticking point so far, for it is acknowledged that biophysicists and neuroimmunologists have at times had difficulty understanding each other’s presentations, without which collaboration cannot even begin. This Network therefore has three important strategic objectives:
1) To promote the interest of biophysicists in structural studies of myelin proteins and of the peptides involved in the antigen presentation, as well as to have neurologists and neuroimmunologists participate more directly in structural studies.
2) To develop a common language to facilitate interaction between experts in the different fields.
3) To promote the training of young scientists in different fields and develop their ability to organize research projects and carry out experiments with various approaches and techniques.
The ability to form the kind of strong and fruitful interaction between disciplines was demonstrated in the 2002 Exploratory Workshop “Myelin Structure and its Role in Autoimmunity”, providing a sound basis for this Network to achieve the following scientific objectives:
1) Research on multiple sclerosis and other demyelinating diseases by workers from all fields, including biophysics and bioinformatics, that have so far been under-represented, in addition to those in more established areas involving cell and molecular biology.
2) To facilitate interaction among structural biologists interested in the architecture of myelin proteins, in relation to the high-resolution structures of myelin.
3) To encourage the synthesis of different kinds of expertise in the fields of biophysics, biochemistry, molecular biology, neurology, neuroimmunology and bioinformatics.
4) To exploit knowledge of myelin structure to study its breakdown in demyelinating diseases, and to elucidate both how myelinotoxic factors can attack the myelin sheath and disrupt the membrane.
5) To understand the role of myelin proteins in autoimmunity and the contribution made to this by molecular mimicry, which is a typical structural problem.
6) To identify and describe selected techniques in biophysics, biochemistry, and bioinformatics that would be of general interest to all participants in the network, but particularly to young scientists.
7) To define multiple sclerosis and autoimmunity and the possible role of myelin proteins in pathology.
All of these objectives require collaboration between specialists in different disciplines and measures to help the various researchers communicate better.
SHORT VISIT GRANTS
SHORT VISIT GRANTS
The Network "MARIE" offers a limited number of short visits (up to 15 days) to scientists wishing to initiate or further develop a collaborative project related to the network’s objective.
Guidelines for Short Visit Grants
Deadline: 15 September, 15 December, 15 March, 15 JunePlease submit your application using this form
