Case Western Reserve University-LINKCritical first step in understanding myelin repair and its role in treatments: A collaboration of five of the world's leading neuroscientists has identified three new "switches," or signals, operating in the brain and spinal column that appear to turn on and off the nerve cell's ability to repair myelin. Myelin is the protective coating surrounding nerve cells that is damaged by multiple sclerosis (MS). The scientists' findings are a critical first step in understanding myelin repair and its role in treatments for MS and other demyelinating diseases. "We believe there are a number of mechanisms at work in MS which prevent immature brain cells from developing into myelinating cells, or cause the death of myelinating cells," said Rusty Bromley, COO of the Saratoga, Calif.-based Myelin Repair Foundation (MRF), which funds the scientists' research.

MRF President Scott Johnson, a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur who suffers from MS, founded MRF in 2002 with a single purpose: to identify drug targets that would lead to treatments for MS within five years. To date, he has raised $6 million to support the research, including an initial $1 million donation from Intuit co-founder Scott Cook and a $250,000 award from Boston biopharmaceutical company Biogen Idec.