Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

MicroRNAs are small regulatory molecules that control gene expression. Mammalian systems use them to regulate important aspects of growth, development, tissue differentiation and cell survival throughout the life of an organism. Because of the significance of microRNAs in fundamental aspects of biology, it follows that errors in their regulation can lead to disease. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is one such disease. Misregulation of many microRNAs is found in tissue samples from MS patients. However, the implications of their misregulation - i.e., what specific cell types and/or pathways are negatively affected - remain unknown. This project focuses on a small subset of microRNAs consistently found at unusual levels in tissues from patients with MS. They are predicted to target genes that may affect the ability of specific brain cells, called oligodendrocytes, to mature and function properly. Oligodendrocyte function is crucial to nerve signal conduction in the central nervous system. MS is characterized by a progressive loss of this nerve signal conduction, which leads to the physical and cognitive disabilities associated with the disease. Normally, oligodendrocytes are able to repair some of this damage, but this ability appears to be lessened in MS. Should the misregulation of the microRNAs in question prove to cause the decreased repair function in oligodendrocytes, then manipulating their regulation may in turn induce repair by oligodendrocytes and reverse some of the damage caused by MS. These theories will be tested by controlling the levels of these microRNAs in oligodendrocytes in cell and whole animal model systems. This research will reveal the impact of these microRNAs specifically on oligodendrocytes and their ability to repair damage in the central nervous system, thus providing possible therapeutic targets for clinical MS research in the future.