
From bold ideas to big breakthroughs: 5 recent discoveries at the Edinburgh Centre for MS Research
Researchers at the Edinburgh Centre for MS Research have been working hard to improve our understanding of how nerves are damaged in MS, and turn that knowledge into new treatments that can slow or stop disability progression for people with progressive MS.
We've been funding research at our Edinburgh Centre for MS Research since 2007, and in that time, it has grown into a world-leading hub for MS research. The team is working tirelessly to find effective treatments that can slow or stop MS progression—our top research priority. You can find out more about the Centre in our short film.
In 2021, we awarded our Centre a new grant to study the cells and molecules that are involved when nerves get damaged in MS. Since then, they've made incredible progress, publishing over 22 studies part-funded by the MS Society. That’s a lot to cover, so we’ve picked out five of their recent discoveries to share with you!
How will this help people living with MS?
Findings like these can sometimes feel like science fiction, but they’re a crucial first step in understanding what happens in MS. The first three discoveries we'll tell you about show us potential strategies to promote myelin repair. The last two reveal how we might be able to find the right drugs for each person, acknowledging that everyone's MS is unique and might benefit from a tailored approach.
Ultimately, these discoveries pave the way for discovering new, promising treatments that can be tested in clinical trials:
1. Cells that survive myelin damage are worse at producing myelin
In MS, the immune system attacks myelin – the protective coating around our nerves. If too much myelin is lost, the nerves underneath become vulnerable and can be destroyed.
Myelin is produced by cells called oligodendrocytes. Some oligodendrocytes die during immune attacks and need to be replaced. But some oligodendrocytes can survive these attacks and even go on to try to produce new myelin.
But the researchers at Edinburgh found these surviving cells produce far less myelin than new oligodendrocytes. They also send the myelin to the wrong part of the nerve much more often.
To stop MS, we need to find ways to help our bodies repair damaged myelin and keep nerves safe. The knowledge that new oligodendrocytes are much more effective at producing new myelin than surviving oligodendrocytes gives us important clues on how we may be able to achieve this.
You can find out more about this study in our news story.
2. Star-shaped cell could improve myelin repair
A team of researchers at our Centre for MS Research in Edinburgh have been exploring the star-shaped brain cells, astrocytes, for years. In 2023, they’ve found astrocytes could help myelin repair if certain properties are boosted.
Looking at mice with an MS-like condition, the researchers made two main discoveries:
- During myelin repair, astrocytes keep myelin-making oligodendrocytes alive by sending them cholesterol.
- Using drugs, the team boosted the cholesterol-giving properties of astrocytes. This improved how well myelin was repaired.
These discoveries are exciting because they show us how we can support brain cells that might benefit myelin repair. In the future, this could lead towards new approaches for myelin repair treatments.
You can find out more about this study in our news story.
3. Genetically engineered human cells can repair myelin in mice
In this study, researchers grew human oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) in the lab. They are a type of cell found in the brain that normally transform into myelin-making cells called oligodendrocytes. But signals in MS lesions stop this from happening.
The researchers in Edinburgh used a technique called CRISPR to edit a small section of the DNA of these OPCs to make them ignore anti-repair signals. And found that when these cells were transplanted into mouse brains, they were able to improve myelin repair.
This is exciting as now we have shown that we can scientifically tweak cells in a dish and transplant them into models to improve repair.

The next step is to see if we can edit the cells directly in humans instead of transplanting them into mice.
You can find out more about this study in our news story.
4. Location matters
In 2023, researchers at our Edinburgh Centre for MS research found that cells in the spinal cord make myelin in a slightly different way to cells in the brain. This was true even when the cells were from the same person’s brain and spinal cord.
If myelin-making cells behave differently in different parts of the body, some drugs might be more effective for some cells than for others. When designing trials of new myelin repair drugs, researchers could separate out results from just the brain or just the spinal cord. This could increase success in trials, because researchers could identify a drug that helps one area more than another.
You can find out more about this study in our news story.
5. ‘Atlas of MS brain cells’ could help personalise MS treatment
Researchers at our Edinburgh Centre for MS Research worked as part of an international team to create an ‘atlas of MS brain cells’ using brain tissue that people living with MS donated after their death.
They found they could separate people with MS into four groups, based on how their brain cells behaved.
This is such an important discovery as it tells us that we can put people with MS into subgroups according to what’s going on in the brain at a molecular level. And these subgroups might respond to therapies differently.

Research like this could pave the way for more personalised treatment of MS. This means using information about an individual’s MS to tailor their treatment, rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach.
You can find out more about this study in our news story.
Robots and rodents
Our Centre for MS Research is working to find treatments for the tens of thousands of people in the UK living with progressive MS. To tackle this and make discoveries like the ones mentioned above, the researchers use a range of innovative methods.
One exciting approach is their pioneering drug discovery platform. The platform uses robots to screen thousands of possible treatments on zebrafish with an MS-like condition. The researchers also test potential treatments on MS cells grown in a dish in the lab and on human brain tissue samples, and with mice with an MS-like condition.
By combining these different techniques, the researchers make these discoveries that will help us find promising treatment for progressive MS more quickly.