Pharmacy professor receives research grant from multiple sclerosis group

Shelley Hooks, an associate professor of pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences in the College of Pharmacy, received a $44,000 pilot research grant from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. She will use it to study the anti-inflammatory mechanisms of a specific protein that may help prevent damage to the central nervous system in multiple sclerosis patients. Multiple sclerosis is caused by a dysfunctional immune response that eventually eats away at the protective sheath covering nerves throughout the body, disrupting communication and causing a host of disabling physical and mental problems. Hooks will evaluate the role of a signaling protein in the regulation of this immune response and determine its impact on the efficacy of an existing treatment for MS.