Choroid Plexus Inflammation May Affect Disability Progression Over 5 Years in People With Multiple Sclerosis

Tuesday, May 30th, 2023

BNAC Researcher Niels Bergsland recently led a new study that indicates inflammation in the choroid plexus – a complex network of capillaries that produces cerebrospinal fluid in the brain – may affect disease progression and disability in people living with MS. 

BNAC Director Robert Zivadinov Wins Highest Faculty Honor as SUNY Distinguished Professor

Tuesday, May 23rd, 2023

Robert Zivadinov, MD, Ph.D., has been named a SUNY Distinguished Professor – the highest faculty honor in the State University of New York (SUNY) system.

Novel MRI Technique Predicts Staging of Paramagnetic Rim Lesions

Monday, March 13th, 2023

BNAC researchers develop a novel MRI technique that predicts staging of Paramagnetic Rim Lesions, a biomarker of chronic brain inflammation believed to be associated with progressive MS. They presented their work at ACTRIMS Forum 2023.

'Usual Suspect’ lesions appear not to cause most severe disability in MS patients

Friday, February 24th, 2023

Groundbreaking BNAC study shows that keys to severe disability in multiple sclerosis are cortical, deep gray matter, and spinal cord damage rather than lesions.

2022 Annual BNAC Newsletter

Thursday, December 22nd, 2022

Each year, we share highlights of our patient-centered research, news about our scientists, core laboratory services, and our many collaborations at the Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center. Thank you for taking an interest in our work. As always, we welcome your inquiries, comments, and suggestions and invite you to stay in touch with our progress on the developments that matter most to you.

LINDA J. SAFRAN, CFRE, MARKS 14 YEARS OF EXTRAORDINARY SERVICE TO BNAC AND PEOPLE WITH MS

Thursday, November 17th, 2022

Smart. Creative. Indefatigable. Optimist. There certainly are more ways to describe BNAC’s long-time friend and fundraising consultant, Linda J. Safran. Yet none may be more descriptive than commitment. 

MS clinicians listen up: Here’s how your patients need you to talk about brain atrophy.

Monday, November 14th, 2022

Neuroimaging researchers, providers and people with MS collaborated to develop novel guidelines on how to communicate about brain atrophy .

BNAC RESEARCHERS, STUDENTS RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE

Thursday, August 11th, 2022

Recently, several members of the BNAC team and their mentees have been honored by colleagues, the University at Buffalo, and the broader scientific community for exceptional work.

Celebrating the Life and Legacy of MS Pioneer and BNAC Founder Dr. Larry Jacobs

Wednesday, August 10th, 2022

BNAC researchers and students join in celebrating the life and work of the late Lawrence Jacobs, BNAC founder and a brilliant and visionary biomedical researcher whose research changed forever how multiple sclerosis was treated around the world. 

Isolating the timeline for one factor in MS progression: white matter lesion-induced atrophy occurs in year one after WM lesions appear

Monday, July 25th, 2022

Atrophy or volume loss of the brain’s deep grey matter, and thalamic atrophy specifically, are strong drivers of worsening clinical disability and cognitive decline in people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS). A  BNAC, investigator initiated study co-authored by Niels Bergsland, Ph.D., entitled, “Time course of lesion-induced atrophy in multiple sclerosis,” now provides a more precise understanding of when some of these impacts occur, improving our understanding of the pace of MS pathology.

BNAC’s CASA-MS Study Participants at The Boston Home Hear an Update on Study Progress

Thursday, July 21st, 2022

The CASA-MS study’s Co-Investigator Dejan Jakimovski, Ph.D., recently spoke with some of the participants in the first-of-its-kind, investigator-initiated clinical trial that seeks answers for the 2.8 million MS patients who share the fear that their disease may accelerate at any time, leaving them completely dependent on care they may not be able to find or afford. “Will I just need a cane or a walker? Or will I become locked in my body until the end of my life?”   WATCH THE FULL PRESENTATION.

Robert Zivadinov, MD, PhD, is honored as a recipient of the 2022 State University of New York Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities

Tuesday, July 5th, 2022

Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center (BNAC) director and University at Buffalo Professor of Neurology Robert Zivadinov, MD, PhD, is among six UB faculty honored as recipients of the 2022 State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities. The SUNY system-wide Chancellor’s Awards recognize “consistently superior professional achievement and the ongoing pursuit of excellence” and the award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities specifically recognizes “those who engage actively in scholarly and creative pursuits beyond their teaching responsibilities.” 

AIMING NEW IMAGING METHODS AT A POTENTIALLY PROMISING THERAPEUTIC TARGET: MICROGLIA ACTIVATION

Thursday, June 30th, 2022

Initiating MS Research Breakthroughs While Building on Consensus

In a recent University at Buffalo’s Department of Neurology “Grand Rounds” presentation to research colleagues, doctoral candidates, and other students, BNAC Director Robert Zivadinov, MD, PhD, provided a comprehensive discussion of how a combination of traditional and novel imaging methods open the door wider to targeting microglia activation as a viable MS therapy. New imaging methods used in the study make it possible or easier to reliably assess microglia activation in living patients in addition to guiding pharmaceutical companies developing new microglia-focused MS treatments.

Zivadinov and his BNAC colleagues are delivering therapy-accelerating imaging of microglia activation, a long-trusted but hard-to-measure biomarker for secondary-progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS). Currently it is not possible to predict who will eventually develop SPMS in which lost or damaged nerves worsen MS symptoms.

VIDEO: First Head-to-head comparison of FDA-approved DMTs using four imaging modalities is explained by Robert Zivadinov, MD, PhD

Wednesday, June 1st, 2022

The first head-to-head comparison using microglia imaging of two FDA-approved disease-modifying treatments (DMTs) for multiple sclerosis is underway. Watch Center Director Robert Zivadinov, MD, PhD explain a study underway at the Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center (BNAC) on NeurologyLive®.

UB’s Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center Receives $100,000 Challenge Grant to Study Advanced Multiple Sclerosis

Tuesday, May 17th, 2022

The Annette Funicello Research Fund for Neurological Diseases (AFRFND) has awarded a $100,000 challenge grant to the Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center (BNAC) in support of the center’s groundbreaking study of people with advanced-stage progressive Multiple Sclerosis. The grant is part of an ongoing campaign that, so far, has raised over $400,000 toward the overall goal of $1 million to underwrite this multi-year, investigator-initiated study. 

CASA-MS Featured on WKBW TV 7, buffalo's abc affiliate

Friday, April 22nd, 2022

Reporter Eileen Buckley reports for WKBW Channel 7, Buffalo's ABC news affiliate, on the CASA-MS study. Interviews with Center Director Robert Zivadinov, MD, PhD, and BNAC Advisory Council Chair Larry Montani help present this breakthrough study to those who may be helped as well as those who may wish to help underwriting this investigator initiated study.  Find out more about how you can contribute here. Click on the headline above to see the news report.

The Story of CASA-MS

Thursday, April 21st, 2022

In a news release today, the University at Buffalo announced the unique CASA-MS study, that compares people with multiple sclerosis to others whose disease has not progressed.

The “Comprehensive Assessment of Severely Affected Multiple Sclerosis” study is being performed by researchers at UB’s Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center (BNAC) in partnership with the Jacobs MS Treatment Center, part of the Department of Neurology in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB, as well as The Boston Home, a long-term care facility in Boston, Massachusetts, that specializes in caring for people with advanced-stage MS.

CASA-MS Study Story Told in The Buffalo News

Thursday, April 21st, 2022

Today in The Buffalo News, reporter Scott Scanlon tells the story of CASA-MS – the Comprehensive Assessment of Severely Affected Multiple Sclerosis study, its inspiration, and its amazing participants.

This first-of-its-kind study is exploring the question that haunts MS patients as soon as they are diagnosed: Am I going to become severely disabled by my disease?

BNAC STUDENT ASSERTS PATIENT PERSPECTIVE IN BOSTON GLOBE STORY ON “TIK TOK TICS”

Monday, April 11th, 2022

BNAC’s Clinical Trial Research Assistant and Project Manager Devon Oship, contributes the perspective of a neurology student and a Tourettic woman in a recent Boston Globe feature that asks the question, “Are young women catching ‘TikTok tics’ from social media? The answer is complex.”

Devon’s advocacy, stretches back to her elementary school years. At age 11, she was featured in an ABC 20/20 documentary about Tourette. She has been working as a science and civil rights educator ever since, with a special focus on support for women and girls affected by Tourette syndrome. Her passion and contributions mirror BNAC’s longstanding commitment to patient-centered research. The research community must continue to challenge assumptions and funding dynamics that obscure or ignore the experience of all patients and people directly affected by disorders and disease.

BNAC’s Advisory Council, consisting of people with or directly affected by multiple sclerosis, represents the voice of patients across our work with MS.

Here is the Globe story, including Devon’s insights.

Dejan Jakimovski, MD, PhD, presents first research to use the sNfL biomarker to affirm the link between brain blood flow and neuronal damage associated with MS

Friday, April 8th, 2022

At the American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting this week, Clinical Research Director Dejan Jakimovski, MD, PhD, presented findings of a recent study, conducted with BNAC colleagues Drs. Niels Bergsland and Michael Dwyer, that explored the correlation between blood flow to the brain and neuronal damage associated with multiple sclerosis.