Fereshteh Pourabdolhossein

The McDonald fellowship will enable Fereshteh, a final year PhD student from Tarbiat Modares University in Iran to travel to CRICM/ INSERM in Paris where she will be investigating the activation of the adult subventricular zone in response to inflammatory demyelination, under the supervision of Prof. Anne Baron-Van Evercoorn. Upon returning to Iran, Fereshteh hopes to continue research on the role of endogenous stem cells in remyelination, and work with the Iranian MS society on research and raising awareness of MS.

Helena Decker

Using the McDonald fellowship, Helena a post-doctoral researcher from Brazil, will carry out a two-year research project at the Oregon Health and Science University, USA, where she will be supervised by Dr Gary Banker. Her study aims to identify motor proteins that transport each of the major organelle populations and test if these motors are differentially sensitive to reactive oxygen species (ROS). On her return to Brazil, Helena plans to continue research on axonal transport in neurodegenerative disease.

Suresh Menon

Suresh, a neurologist from Bombay Hospital Institute of Medical Sciences & Medical Research Centre, India, will use his fellowship to visit the University of British Columbia in Canada, where he will study the epidemiology of ‘malignant’ and ‘benign’ multiple sclerosis, under the supervision of Dr Helen Tremlett. On his return to India, Suresh plans to continue management and care of MS patients and set up a dedicated MS and demyelinating diseases clinic at his institute.