Prof Kaylene Young to head new centre with vision to make MS ‘a disease without disability

Tasmania has the highest incidence of Multiple Sclerosis in Australia but funding for a new $3m centre will see researchers work to find a way to better treat the condition. Read the latest.

Professor Kaylene Young with Chris Gumley who lives with MS. $3m grant for Menzies Institute for Medical Research in relation to multiple sclerosis. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

A Tasmanian academic will head a new $3m Multiple Sclerosis Centre of Research Excellence with the aim of making MS “a disease without disability”.

Professor Kaylene Young, a neuroscientist and the centre’s chief investigator said a research team, led from the Menzies Institute for Medical Research at UTAS, would include seven other universities and was funded by a grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council.

“I’m excited to lead the centre and our vision is to make MS a disease without disability,” she said.

Professor Kaylene Young with Chris Gumley who lives with MS and Professor Tracey Dickson director Menzies Institute for Medical Research. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

“Over the next five years, our team will draw on the knowledge and hard work of MS consumers, researchers across seven universities, our biotechnology partner, Novoroo, MS Australia and MS Translate.

“By working together we will discover, test and take brain repair treatments into MS clinical trials.

“This is really important, because there are currently no brain repair treatments available to prevent disability.”

Prof Young said over the past decade researchers had gathered genetic data from people with MS.

“We’ve also been doing a lot of work in the laboratory to try and better understand how the brain cells work and how they’re affected by MS, and this grant is going to be taking that knowledge and actually trying to identify the best drugs that can target those specific things,” she said.

“In the next five to 10 years, I’m hoping that we’ll start to get evidence of drugs that reduce disability, that actually target the brain and reduce disability.”

Chris Gumley, who has MS, said it was a privilege to contribute her lived experience to a team striving to enhance understanding of MS, improving quality of life through research and “ultimately striving to find a cure for current and future generations”.

“As a consumer, being involved and seeing all the research going on gives me hope,” she said.

“I was diagnosed with MS about 35 years ago and it eventually did result in my early retirement, after a fulfilling career as a healthcare professional.

“There are a lot more supports available for people working with MS now, as well as many more drug treatments available, from none, when I was diagnosed, to over 15 now.”

Prof Young said the NHMRC funding would allow the centre to recruit postgraduate students “training them to think big, be creative and use the latest research technologies”.

Tasmania has the highest number of people with MS, a complex auto-immune and neurodegenerative condition, per capita in Australia.

Originally published as Prof Kaylene Young to head new centre with vision to make MS ‘a disease without disability