Moses Rodriguez, M.D., researches the mechanisms of demyelination and remyelination in diseases such as human multiple sclerosis.

What is the Focus of Your Current Research?

Our work is primarily on multiple sclerosis (MS), which affects about 350,000 people in the United States. MS is a chronic disease of the central nervous system. It can be a very disabling disease.

MS results from injury to the myelin sheath with the nerves (axons) remaining relatively intact. Myelin is the fatty insulation that surrounds most nerves in the brain and spinal cord. As a result of destruction of this sheath, the function of the nerves is impaired, resulting in neurologic deficits.

Our goal is to devise strategies to re-grow the myelin on the nerves in the central nervous system.

People used to say that was impossible, but we have shown that it can occur in animals. Our laboratory has discovered that antibodies may play a critical role in repair of the myelin sheath. Antibodies directed against the cells that make the myelin sheath (oligodendrocytes) appear to induce new formation of myelin in the central nervous system.

We recently discovered a series of human antibodies that promote repair in the central nervous system. This is an exciting new development for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. New formation of myelin is the ultimate therapeutic goal in multiple sclerosis. The use of monoclonal antibodies appears to be a practical and feasible approach to accomplish this.

Why Is It that a Patient Develops Weakness of the Leg or Numbness in the Foot or Loss of Vision?

What we have found is that in these cases not only is the sheath damaged but the nerve also is damaged. We are very actively investigating why that happens.

We also have found that plasma exchange works for some individuals with severe cases of multiple sclerosis. We found that if you remove the plasma from patients with certain types of MS with very dramatic injury, you get dramatic recovery.

Are There Broader Applications for Your Research?

We think that some of the same concepts could be applied to diseases like spinal-cord injury. We think that potentially we could promote and repair using different kinds of antibodies. What are the implications for patient care? My focus is very practical because I also see patients. The beauty of our approach is that it will be noninvasive. Other research is focusing on stem cells and transplantation - all of which is very invasive. We are saying you don't need to do all that. The cells already are there. If you just stimulate them to do the right thing, then you can get the process going.

How Has Being at Mayo Clinic Contributed to Your Research?

The most important thing for me has been having dual appointments in both a basic science and a clinical department - Immunology and Neurology. This allows me to bridge the gap between basic science and patient care. There is a tendency for basic scientists and clinicians to go about their work and not talk to each other.

One important aspect of having appointments in both places is the ability to recruit students, postdoctoral students and clinicians who come from both disciplines. This provides an interesting mix of people in the lab - people who normally wouldn't interact.

The joint appointment also means I am thinking about our research when I am seeing patients. For example, we initiated the plasma-exchange trial based on our observations in the laboratory, so we are able to take what we learn in the laboratory and apply it simultaneously to patients.

How Do You See Your Research as Fitting into the Bigger Picture of Mayo Clinic?

Mayo's vision of "the needs of the patient come first" is something I strongly believe in. I think it is very different in most other institutions. Most other institutions' major missions are to advance knowledge or to write papers.

I think the mission of helping patients has driven my focus toward research that ultimately will benefit patients. I strongly support basic science. But to me the basic science has to have a focus toward patient care. Just doing basic science is great, but it is not what I do. I've been at Mayo since 1983. It has been a very good experience academically and professionally.