Katrina Adams, 2026 Indiana CTSI Annual Meeting speaker, publishes groundbreaking research on multiple sclerosis in Nature Communications
The laboratory of Katrina Adams, PhD, is examining the role of loss and regeneration of myelin in multiple sclerosis (MS) and how current preclinical models can be used to examine these changes.
Adams, the Gallagher Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame, and her team conducted the first direct comparison of two of the most widely used preclinical models of myelin loss and repair. They reported their findings in the journal Nature Communications.
Previously, the two models have been used interchangeably. However, Adams research shows that each model is better suited for specific scenarios. Additionally, her team examined the lesions associated with each of the models and compared them to data obtained from human samples. They created genetic maps for each tissue sample using single-cell RNA sequencing, and thus could observe the genetic changes that resulted from the body’s response to demyelination. These genetic changes are an area the team intends to explore in future studies.
The new research was supported by funding form the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and builds on support Adams received through an Indiana CTSI Core Pilot Award in 2023.
Adams will return to the Indiana CTSI in September as a featured speaker at the 2026 Indiana CTSI Annual Meeting, “Genetic Medicine from Sequence to Solution.”
