Annual Scientific Congress 2024 Hosted by the Italian MS Society in Rome (May 28th-30th)
From May 28th to 30th, EBV-MS Partner Paola Zaratin, along with the Italian MS Society, hosted the Annual Scientific Congress 2024. Notable attendees included EBV-MS Project Coordinator Kjell-Morten Myhr, Deputy Project Coordinator Øivind Torkildsen, and project partner Marco Salvetti from Sapienza University of Rome, all invited by the Italian MS Society, ensuring significant representation from EBV-MS. Notably, the congress coincided with World MS Day on May 30th, enhancing the event's significance and its impact on the global MS community.
Annual Scientific Congress 2024
The overarching theme and the topic for the first day of the congress was "Brain Health: Rethinking Diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders," chaired by Mario Alberto Battaglia, Gianluigi Mancardi, and Paola Zaratin, Director of Scientific Research at the Italian MS Society and a key partner in the EBV-MS project. During this session, Project Coordinator Kjell-Morten Myhr was invited as a guest speaker and held a presentation titled: “Targeting Epstein-Barr Virus Infection for Prevention of MS Progression: The Case of the EBV-MS EU Project.” He introduced our exciting project, and discussed how the relationships between EBV and multiple sclerosis are studied, possible treatments, and potential prevention strategies.
There were also representatives from the EBV-MS partner organizations that held their own presentations, including Paola Zaratin and Professor Marco Salvetti. In addition to organizing the event and chairing the discussions, Paola Zaratin also held a talk titled “The science “with and of” patient input of the Global Research Agenda”. Marco Salvetti, Professor and the Chair of Neurology at Sapienza University of Rome, held a presentation titled “Barcoding Brain Disorders: the case of Multiple Sclerosis”.
In addition to the topics presented by the EBV-MS team, the congress addressed various issues on MS, including "Discovering MS Causes and Risk Factors, Diagnosis and Disease Monitoring, New Treatments, and Stem Cell Therapy." The Annual Scientific Congress offered an excellent opportunity for the EBV-MS project to effectively communicate and promote its objectives, while also contributing valuable knowledge to the congress.