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To achieve the vision of a world free of MS, the National MS Society is a driving force of MS research, relentlessly pursuing prevention, treatment and cure. We devote nearly $50 million each year to a spectrum of key initiatives and other projects based on the guiding principles of Speed, Collaboration and Possibilities:

• Speed
  Finding expeditious ways to conduct research, forge relationships, bridge barriers and garner resources to propel research forward
• Collaboration
  Fostering coalitions worldwide with experts in other fields and diseases to make rapid and meaningful progress
• Possibilities
  Fueling novel ideas, potential therapies, projects and technologies to discover and pursue every avenue that holds promise

Right now, our researchers are developing and testing novel experimental treatments and tissue repair strategies that may soon be in use for MS. Read more about the progress we’ve made and intriguing leads being pursued by MS investigators.

Research Scope and Philosophy

We strive to fund the best, most relevant research in the U.S. and abroad aimed at moving us closer to a world free of MS

Areas of Research Focus 

We support more than 440 research grants and training fellowships on a broad range of topics relevant to MS, including immune aspects, nerve tissue repair and myelin biology, clinical trials, rehabilitation, psychosocial issues and health care delivery. We are also pursuing some key areas of emerging opportunity and need, including:

• Targeted Initiatives —Funding vital MS research and care through the Promise: 2010 Initiative and speeding treatments to people with MS through the Fast Forward™ initiative.
• Collaborative MS Research Centers —These special centers combine the expertise of top MS researchers with scientists outside the field of MS who are using cutting-edge technologies to engage in large-scale explorations, gaining from each other’s experience.
• High-Risk Pilot Research —These unique grants fund short-term investigations on new, untested ideas, allowing researchers to quickly determine if their novel ideas are worth pursuing.
• Research on Progressive MS — Although many of the Society’s research studies explore virtually every aspect of MS and more basic aspects of how the nervous system and immune system works, some studies focus specifically on progressive forms of MS.