OREANDA-NEWS. Merck Serono, the biopharmaceutical business of Merck, today announced the recipients of the third annual Grant for Multiple Sclerosis Innovation (GMSI) at the 31st Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) being held in Barcelona, Spain.

Four recipients, from The Netherlands, Finland, Italy, and the UK, will share the overall €1 million grant to support their research:
- Dynamics of M1/M2 polarization of microglia in multiple sclerosis: a PET imaging study: Helga E de Vries, Professor in Neuro-immunology, MS Centre Amsterdam, Dept. Molecular Cell Biology and immunology, VU University Medical Center, The Netherlands.
- Role of microglia in the pathogenesis of progressive multiple sclerosis: Laura Airas, Associate Professor, University of Turku, Finland.
- Driving microglia metabolism toward remyelination and restoration of brain damage in multiple sclerosis: Claudia Verderio, Senior Researcher, National Research Council, Institute of Neuroscience, Italy.
- Molecular markers of multiple sclerosis disease progression:Gabriele De Luca, Associate Professor of Clinical Neurology, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, UK.

The GMSI was launched in October 2012 with the aim of improving the understanding of MS for the ultimate benefit of those living with the disease. This year researchers from across the globe were invited to submit proposals describing promising translational research projects, resulting in 146 proposals.

"At Merck Serono, our long-term commitment to MS patients is evident in our medical research and development programs. The Grant for Multiple Sclerosis Innovation is another manifestation of our commitment and the interest in advancing the science behind MS is clear from the number of proposals this year," says Steven Hildemann, Chief Medical Officer, and head of Global Medical Affairs and Global Drug Safety at Merck Serono. "I am impressed by the breadth, depth, and quality of the proposals, and it is further confirmation that there continues to be a deep interest within the scientific community to gain further understanding of the disease."