UQ sees red for MS awareness month

The Forgan Smith building at the UQ St Lucia campus will be lit up red in support of MS Awareness Month.

The middle section of the northern side of the building will be floodlit from 6pm to 11pm every night for the duration of MS Awareness Month, as part of the effort to raise awareness of the debilitating disease.

Multiple Sclerosis attacks the brain and spinal cord, causing irreparable damage.

It is the most common acquired chronic neurological condition among young Australian adults.

Researchers at the UQ Centre for Clinical Research (UQCCR), the School of Medicine, and the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) are working to find treatments to help the 23,000 Australians living with the disease.

UQ MS expert Dr Judith Greer said the UQCCR was working on five main MS projects.

My current work focuses on the role of molecules called antibodies, she said.

There is a lot of suggestive evidence that these antibodies might cause a faster progression of disease in people with multiple sclerosis, but this remains to be proven.

We're investigating the mechanisms by which antibodies that target the most abundant protein in myelin (called proteolipid protein or PLP) could hasten MS disease progression, Dr Greer said.

MS Queensland is a great supporter of ours and sponsors many of our projects.

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UQ sees red for MS awareness month