article provided by Barbara S., in Delray Beach, Fl.
Diagnosed at 21, this Ohio researcher is determined to help find an MS cure. Knowing he’d be helping others with multiple sclerosis is his great motivator.
By Beth W. Orenstein
Medically reviewed by Farrokh Sohrabi, MD
Dale Edberg was a junior, sitting in biochemistry class at the University of Minnesota Duluth, when suddenly he couldn’t see in front of him. “I was watching the overheads that they used back then and started going blind,” he recalls. “It was pretty scary.” Edberg, now 42, was experiencing optic neuritis, which is often a precursor to multiple sclerosis (MS).
An MRI and other symptoms, which Edberg had been ignoring, led doctors to confirm he had multiple sclerosis. And because of one symptom — chronic fatigue — Edberg had already changed his undergraduate major from premed to biochemistry.
After graduation, Edberg decided to pursue a PhD in biochemistry at Washington State University. As a doctoral candidate, he says, he did some exciting research on breast cancer, but once he had his PhD, he knew he wanted to turn his attention to the disease he knew personally. “I wanted to pursue my passion and do MS research,” he says.
Edberg interviewed for a job with Moses Rodriguez M.D.’s small MS research lab at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and was hired on the spot. He spent five years with Dr. Rodriguez studying myelin, a fatty substance that surrounds nerve fibers and acts as insulation. In people with MS, myelin becomes damaged or destroyed and distorts the nerve impulses that travel to and from the brain and spinal cord. “The mystery of MS is why this occurs in some people,” Edberg says.
The body can repair some myelin naturally, but in those with MS, the remyelination process is never complete, Edberg says. His goal is to find a way to repair myelin damage and recover nerve function lost by people with MS. Finding a way to protect myelin and prevent further damage could lead to a cure for MS, he says.
After the Mayo Clinic, Edberg spent a year researching myelin at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. About three years ago, he took a new job as a researcher at Renovo Neural Inc., also in Cleveland. The company is helping pharmaceutical companies test and develop drugs that promote myelin repair.
On the Hunt for an MS Cure
MS researchers have had a lot of success over the past two decades. “There are now nine therapeutics for MS, and more are in the pipeline,” Edberg says. “There is no other disease out there that has had such breakthroughs in the last 20 years. I say it’s an exciting time to be diagnosed with MS because there is a lot more hope than ever.”
Having MS makes his work and his hope of finding an MS cure more meaningful than anyone could imagine, Edberg says. “It’s incredibly motivating to go to work every day and to be working on something that has touched every part of your life,” he says. “How incredible it is to know that you’re doing research that could bring a better understanding of the disease that you have and the potential to repair the damage of the disease. You know how much the research is going to mean to end this disease.”
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