Bethan Lang, MD, Oxford University, Detection of Novel Autoantibodies
• Dr. Lang was able to combine our funding with other research funding to extend the OMS study to two years...wow!• Post-doc assistant is already starting on some preliminary experiments, and their bio-bank already has new samples available for study
• In process of Interviewing research assistants to begin 2-year project assignment
Dr. Gregory Owens, University of Colorado, Targets of the Intrathecal B-Cell Response
• The single cell PCR is up and running! They are now efficiently sorting cells from OMS cerebrospinal fluid (more on PCR).• The technique being utilized here has been successful in identifying target antigens for another rare neurological disease called NMO, so very hopeful this will translate to positive results for OMS.
Our Approach to Research
When we started thinking about research several years ago we didn't know much about this process. However, Crystal and I both agreed that we should ensure a “high bar” for scientific research. We wanted to make sure we were funneling our dollars and efforts to high quality research, with clear milestones and with peer review built into the process. We wanted there to be healthy competition in the application process and didn’t want our dollars sitting in a general research fund at a single institution or with a single doctor. For a such a rare disease, the more open and collaborative the research the better, and many prominent OMS clinicians and researchers (Gorman, Mitchell) are in full support of this approach.
We also knew that if we started from scratch, building the infrastructure and scientific advisory committee to support such research would take significant full-time focus and likely take several years and domain expertise that neither of us had. We were lucky to have partnered with the Pablove Foundation who enabled us to ramp up our efforts to fund high quality research in such a short period of time.
$25K $30K goal.
We also knew that if we started from scratch, building the infrastructure and scientific advisory committee to support such research would take significant full-time focus and likely take several years and domain expertise that neither of us had. We were lucky to have partnered with the Pablove Foundation who enabled us to ramp up our efforts to fund high quality research in such a short period of time.