As a practicing neurologist, Ikuo Tsunoda, MD PhD, saw many patients suffering from multiple sclerosis (MS), and felt frustrated that there were almost no efficient treatment options for these patients and no clear evidence of what causes it. The experience drove him to a new career doing research over the past 20 years to help find new treatments for the disease.
Recently, Dr. Tsunoda, Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, received $125,000 in funding from Teva Neuroscience to see if their MS drug, glatiramer acetate (Copaxone), will work on a viral model of MS in mice, Theiler’s murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) infection. The results of this study could help researchers get closer to determining the mechanisms of MS and ultimately figure out what causes it.
Dr. Tsunoda is a member of the LSU Health Shreveport Multiple Sclerosis Research Team along with J. Steven Alexander, PhD, Department of Cellular and Mollecular Biology and Alireza Minagar, MD, Department of Neurology.