This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

Collaboration in action

Concomitantly, the first ever Tykeson Fellows Conference is bringing 106 MS scientists together to advance collaborations and cross fertilization in their ongoing work to create a world free of MS.

The Society currently sponsors 70 postdoctoral fellowships at a cost of $3.2 million. These fellowship funds nurture and educate the new generation of specialists and encourage the best and brightest to stay in the MS field. All fellows, past and present, funded by the Society, including those in clinical and rehabilitation fields, have been invited to this special conference — to meet and learn from leading senior scientists, to network and share information with each other, and (some for the first time) to meet people who are living with MS.

The Tykeson Fellows Conference is made possible by a generous donation from National MS Society Honorary Life Director, Donald E. Tykeson.

After a celebratory dinner Tuesday night, the Tykeson Conference opened on Wednesday with presentations exploring a basic question in MS: Which is first, inflammation or the loss of myelin? Dr. Lawrence Steinman of Stanford University gave a keynote address pointing out the need to reframe questions and beware of “group think” in the quest for better understandings. He pointed out that the molecules involved in inflammation and in the breakdown of tissues in MS are identical. Moreover, the same molecules are now known to be involved in the processes that lead to hypertension and arteriosclerosis.

The conference features 21 platform presentations and almost 50 posters, giving participants opportunities to review findings from studies ranging from basic science on MS genes and the immune response to therapy, care, and rehabilitation for people with MS.

The Tykeson Fellows Conference is set to continue through Friday