May 25, 2016

Dr. Nitin Karandikar received a five-year $3.7 million NIH R01 grant entitled, 'Immune Dysregulation During Multiple Sclerosis Relapse'. Dr. Karandikar’s laboratory is focused on understanding the immune processes that underlie the pathogenesis and regulation of multiple sclerosis, an immune-mediated demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. In particular, they have made novel observations related to the unexpected regulatory role of CD8+ T cells in this disease. In this study, they will focus on the acute relapse of MS. “In relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, the immune basis of an acute clinical relapse is woefully understudied and poorly understood,” Dr. Karandikar said. "We are excited to get this funding so that we can tackle this question head-on through careful longitudinal studies in collaboration with our clinical colleagues at Iowa, Dallas and Chicago. We hope that this analysis reveals multiple potential targets for better and timely immunotherapeutic intervention strategies for the future.”