Investigators face a daunting task as they strive to manage their research programs while keeping up with key discoveries in their own area of expertise, never mind other disciplines. The sheer volume and scope of MS research—which includes everything from immunology, neuroscience, and genetics to epidemiology and imaging—means there is more raw literature than any one person can possibly absorb and then apply.
Furthermore, interactions among scientists tend to take place within tightly-knit research communities, a situation that can hinder information-sharing across disciplines. Because valuable insights are not always readily accessible to the larger community, novel ideas and potential breakthroughs can be missed, creating bottlenecks toward progress.
MSDF aspires to address these challenges and to encourage collaborations among researchers. Having information about new findings and resources accessible on a single site will help scientists generate and execute well-informed and innovative experiments. This, in turn, will help MS researchers to more effectively and efficiently untangle the causes of this often-devastating disease and develop therapeutic compounds and strategies toward a cure for the more than two million individuals worldwide who are currently suffering from MS.
