$3 million Breakthrough Prize goes to scientists behind groundbreaking MS research
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.
Two scientists will share a Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for research that has revolutionized our understanding of multiple sclerosis.
The two prize winners — Dr. Alberto Ascherio of Harvard and Dr. Stephen Hauser of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) — will share $3 million for the award. For comparison, a Nobel Prize comes with 11 million Swedish kronor, a bit over $1 million.
"It's obviously an honor," Ascherio told Live Science of the recognition. He added that he's looking forward to joining the "interdisciplinary forum" of past winners of the prize, who hail from many scientific backgrounds and help decide future winners of the award.
This year's Breakthrough Prize winners will receive their awards at a ceremony in Los Angeles on April 5.
Related: In a 1st, trial finds vitamin D supplements may slow multiple sclerosis. But questions remain.
The Breakthrough Prizes have been awarded annually since 2013 to recognize accomplishments in fundamental physics, mathematics and the life sciences. One of the three life-science prizes recognizes work in the field of neurodegenerative disorders, and this year, that prize highlighted paradigm-shifting research about multiple sclerosis (MS).
In MS, the immune system attacks fatty tissue that surrounds nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord. Called myelin, this fatty substance helps neurons send signals efficiently. The destruction of myelin undermines neurons' ability to communicate with one another while also triggering inflammation and scarring in the nervous system.
This leads to symptoms of numbness, weakness, pain, dizziness, slurred speech, coordination problems, and blurred or double vision. Depending on the subtype of MS, a person's symptoms may come and go or steadily worsen over time; some people's disease switches from the former relapsing-remitting pattern to the latter, progressive form of the disease.
Hauser, who directs UCSF's Weill Institute for Neurosciences, helped identify which immune cells actually drive MS.
It was once thought that T cells alone were responsible for the disease. These cells normally rid the body of foreign invaders by killing infected cells, sparking inflammation and summoning other immune defenses to sites of infection. But in MS, it was thought that T cells unleashed inflammation against myelin, damaging the tissue.
Research findings in the 1970s that supported this idea set the stage for MS therapies that took aim at T cells alone. However, this theory of the disease was incomplete. T cells sparked inflammation, but in animal experiments, T cells alone couldn't trigger the type of myelin damage seen in the brains of people with MS.
Hauser's research filled in the missing piece of the puzzle: Another type of immune cell, called a B cell, is also key in MS. Although he and his colleagues faced resistance to their theory, they eventually got clearance to test a B-cell-targeting drug in MS patients, and it worked. That pivotal study paved the way for B-cell-depleting therapies for MS, such as ocrelizumab, which are now a mainstay of treatment.
At the very start of his research, "it would have been impossible to imagine that 35 years later B cells would rest, arguably, at the epicenter of MS immunology," Hauser wrote in a 2015 essay.
Related: $3 million Breakthrough Prize awarded to developers of Ozempic-style drugs
Hauser will share his Breakthrough Prize with Ascherio, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard University. Ascherio is being recognized for "revealing that Epstein-Barr virus infection is the leading risk for multiple sclerosis."
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) causes the common disease infectious mononucleosis, better known as "mono"; over 95% of people catch the EBV virus by adulthood, although not all get the symptoms associated with mono, such as fatigue, fever or swollen lymph nodes. Through a painstaking 20-year study, Ascherio and his colleagues demonstrated that, following an EBV infection, an individual's risk of MS increases 32-fold.
No other risk factors or viral infections are tied to such a stark increase in the risk for the disease. And absolutely no MS cases were seen among people in the study who hadn't caught EBV.
"The fact that the virus is so common makes it difficult to prove," Ascherio said. Difficult, but not impossible — Ascherio mentioned polio as a similar example. The annual rate of symptomatic polio infections in the U.S. peaked in 1952, reaching nearly 58,000 reported cases, and of those, over 21,000 caused paralysis. But many cases of polio go unnoticed; approximately 70% cause no symptoms, while less than 1% of infections lead to paralyzing disease.
"So it's quite common for a virus to be nearly ubiquitous — infect everyone — but cause severe disease, in particular neurological diseases, in only a small minority," Ascherio told Live Science.
Since the publication of Ascherio's 20-year study, "there's been a huge shift" in the field, he said. "Now, EBV has been accepted as a central player and the leading cause of MS."
RELATED STORIES
—Twin study reveals signs of MS that might be detectable before symptoms
—Europeans' ancient ancestors passed down genes tied to multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's risk
—New 'inverse vaccine' could wipe out autoimmune diseases, but more research is needed
However, it's not yet known how EBV infection ultimately leads to MS. It's important to note that EBV is a herpesvirus, which means it can lurk in the body, go dormant and reactivate later on. For his part, Ascherio thinks EBV reactivation in the brain is likely important for the development of MS. Figuring out how that mechanism works could help explain why, out of the many people who catch EBV, only a small percentage end up with MS.
But even if that mechanism is unclear, knowing EBV is a key driver of MS points to possible solutions, Ascherio said. For instance, various groups are working on vaccines to prevent EBV infection, with the hope of snuffing out MS down the line.
And in theory, you could come up with something like the shingles vaccine, which works by preventing reactivation of the virus that causes chickenpox; perhaps a similar shot could prevent EBV reactivation in the body, Ascherio suggested.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
New COVID variant linked to painful ‘razor blade throat' symptom
As summer brings another rise in COVID-19 infections, patients across Asia, Europe and North America are reporting a searing sore throat so intense it has earned a dramatic nickname: ' razor blade throat.' Though not a new symptom, the phenomenon has gained fresh attention amid the spread of a fast-moving Omicron subvariant, formally known as NB.1.8.1 and colloquially as 'Nimbus.' Patients in China and elsewhere describe the pain as akin to 'swallowing shattered glass,' with some saying they've been left unable to speak, eat, or even stay hydrated. 'Post-COVID razor blade throat is brutal — swollen, painful, and I can barely speak,' one user wrote on Weibo, China's leading social media platform, according to Chinese-language media. Another said, 'I've been hit with razor blade throat and feel completely drained.' Despite the visceral nickname, health experts emphasize that the symptom is not unique to this latest wave. 'Sore throat is a common symptom of COVID and not novel at all, and not associated with any one variant, including NB.1.8.1,' said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at UCSF. 'There has been a range of intensity of sore throat with COVID symptoms all along, including very severe pain.' He noted that up to 70% of people infected with COVID-19 report a sore throat. Other common symptoms include fatigue, mild cough, fever, muscle aches, and congestion — all consistent with earlier strains of the virus. 'Current data do not indicate that this variant leads to more severe illness than other variants in circulation,' according to the World Health Organization, which last month designated NB.1.8.1 as a SARS-CoV-2 ' variant under monitoring.' The agency noted, however, that the subvariant appears more immune-evasive than the dominant LP.8.1 lineage. In China, where the current wave began in March, cases are expected to peak by late June. The NB.1.8.1 variant has since been detected in over 20 countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States, with early outbreaks noted in California, Washington and New York. Last month, an average of about 250 people died each week from COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Doctors continue to urge the public to stay up to date on vaccinations and take precautions, especially those in high-risk groups. 'To me, it is a reminder that even if you don't end up in urgent care or in the hospital, COVID can still make you very sick in 2025,' Chin-Hong said. 'As the summer approaches, we will likely see another wave of infections, likely fueled by variants like NB.1.8.1. Wastewater is already showing a bump in some areas in California and the US.' With COVID-19 expected to remain a persistent — if more manageable — presence, health officials continue to emphasize a familiar message: masks, handwashing, vaccination, and staying home when sick remain the best defense, razor blade throat or not. For those experiencing severe throat pain, Chin-Hong recommends over-the-counter treatments like ibuprofen or acetaminophen.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Harvard Doctor Shares 8 Surprisingly Simple Tips To Prevent Dementia
From brain games to herbal memory boosters, there are plenty of dementia prevention strategies that supposedly keep you sharp and ward off memory loss. But with so many bold claims out there, it can be hard to know what really works and what is, well, the modern-day equivalent of snake oil. That's why we asked a top neurologist to separate fact from fiction and share what really enhances brain power and helps reduce your risk of dementia. Keep reading for proven (and even fun!) ways to increase your cognitive health over the long term. Here, Harvard-trained neurologist Andrew E. Budson, MD, Professor of Neurology, Boston University and co-author of Seven Steps to Managing Your Aging Memory, reveals the everyday lifestyle tweaks and simple dietary shifts that aid in dementia prevention. 'People ask me all the time if Prevagen really works to improve memory,' he says of the over-the-counter brain health supplement. His answer is short and not-so-sweet: No. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has sued the supplement-maker for false claims. 'As a result, Prevagen [made from jellyfish extract] actually changed their slogan to say it's the number one best-selling memory supplement—so they no longer claim that it works.' Which supplements actually do protect your brain? 'The two vitamin levels that we always measure in the clinic—because they're often deficient in older adults—are vitamin B12 and vitamin D, low levels of which have been linked, in different ways, to cognitive problems,' he explains. While Vitamin B helps prevent cognitive decline in large part by supporting the function of neurons, the role vitamin D plays in brain health is a little more mysterious. 'Low vitamin D has been associated with dementia in general and Alzheimer's in particular, making it an important preventative factor—but no one is exactly sure why.' Dr. Budson believes the answer lies in how vitamin D helps our immune system fight off infections. 'People who end up with fewer infections essentially reduce the number of 'triggers' for their body to make an excess of beta amyloid plaque seen in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.' He adds that while maintaining normal levels of these vitamins boosts brain health, there's no evidence that 'mega doses' confer any benefits. 'In general, the B12 levels I like to see in my patients are 400 to 1,000 pg/mL and 30 to 100 ng/mL of vitamin D.' Just be sure to consult your healthcare professional before taking over-the-counter supplements, as they can interact with other medications. You've likely heard of the debate between digital brain games and crossword puzzles. So, which is better for memory and cognitive health? Classic crossword for the win, declares Dr. Budson. He explains that in one recent study, the maker of digital games designed to challenge the brain and boost memory pitted their product against the old-fashioned crossword puzzle. 'Their prediction was that people who played their battery of games would end up doing better cognitively and show less brain shrinkage on MRI results,' he shares. 'But they found that doing crossword puzzles was better for the brain than playing their games.' That's because these puzzles are one of the few cognitive activities that force you to stretch your brain again and again. 'The clues are always different and the words link together in new ways,' he continues, explaining that the brain feeds on novelty and variety. Digital games, on the other hand, are more static and predictable. If you prefer apps, just try to switch them up every few weeks. Once you master them, it's time to introduce your noodle to a new challenge to maximize the dementia prevention benefits. Fostering deeper relationships doesn't just feel great, it literally boosts brain power and wards off dementia. 'One study that came out of Japan showed that people who were more socially isolated actually saw a shrinkage of their brain,' reveals Dr. Budson. 'Social interaction is one of the most important kinds of brain stimulation there is.' His simple prescription: Call, or even better, hang out with a friend and engage in a meaningful conversation. Everything from making a joke to showing empathy to simply listening is the cognitive equivalent of lifting a megaton weight, strengthening neural pathways and reducing this risk factor for dementia. 'When we use our brain, we're helping it stay metabolically active and robust,' Dr. Budson says, revealing that there is an increased risk of dementia in people with hearing loss, likely because 'they're not getting as much information into their brain if they can't hear it.' This can lead to a different kind of loss that accelerates cognitive decline: the loss of connection. People essentially become isolated when they can't hear and participate in the conversation, he observes. The good news: 'It's estimated that seven percent of dementia cases could be prevented if people address their hearing loss with hearing aids—that's an enormous percentage.' It's also important to take preventative measures to protect your hearing by wearing earplugs when you're, say, mowing the lawn or attending a loud concert. Going for a stroll is like winning the lottery for your brain. 'When you take a walk, you're doing all sorts of things that improve cognitive health, from navigating a new environment to spurring the release of growth hormone,' says Dr. Budson. Plus, aerobic exercise increases the oxygen-carrying capacity of your blood, helping your brain work more efficiently. While walking 30 minutes a day, five times a week, is still the study-proven gold standard for brain health, that doesn't mean you have to carve out a large block of time for regular physical activity. 'There's lots of evidence that shows breaking up a 30-minute workout into three 10-minute intervals gives you just as many benefits,' he confirms. Study after study confirms the best brain food comes from the Mediterranean. 'A menu which includes fish, olive oil, fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans and whole grains has been shown to decrease the risk of Alzheimer's,' Dr. Budson assures. 'And its sister plan, the MIND diet, which pulls in poultry like chicken and turkey, is very good as well.' In fact, new research finds that the MIND diet—a hybrid of the Mediterranean and blood pressure-slashing DASH diet—lowers the risk of dementia by nine percent. What's more, the age of study participants ranged from 45 to 75 years old, showing it's never too late to adopt healthy, brain-building habits. Everything from conjuring characters in your mind's eye to setting the scene makes reading incredibly stimulating for your brain, notes Dr. Budson. In fact, a study in International Psychogeriatrics showed reading helps stave off cognitive decline in older adults. To reap even more dementia prevention benefits, consider reading aloud to the kids in your life. Not only does this stimulate more of your senses—keeping your neurons on their toes, so to speak—but it also incorporates that all-important social component that your brain craves. Sadly, the same can't be said for watching TV. 'There are actually two studies involving hundreds of thousands of people, and in one of them, researchers found that people who watch more than an hour of television a day were more likely to develop dementia later on.' No need to cancel Netflix, though: Just try to balance binge time with a little more book time. Ditch the map, turn off the GPS and let yourself discover a new route. Challenging yourself to navigate the unknown creates neural superhighways in your brain. Dr. Budson points to a famous study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), which showed that when novice London cab drivers learned new streets to pass their exam, the size of their hippocampus—the seat of memory in the brain—increased substantially. The common denominator among Dr. Budson's tips is that they all tap into a growth mindset for dementia prevention. Whenever you learn something new, not only does your brain light up, but so does your world, making your gray matter healthier and your life more colorful. More strategies to boost brain health: Want to Keep Your Brain Sharp? Experts Reveal Simple Habits to Prevent Cognitive Decline 6 Brain Foods That Can Help Reduce Your Risk of Dementia—And Keep Your Memory Sharp Surprising Tricks That Boost Brainpower, Improve Memory and Keep Your Mind SharpThis content is not a substitute for professional medical advice or diagnosis. Always consult your physician before pursuing any treatment plan.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Humanity takes its 1st look at the sun's poles: 'This is just the first step of Solar Orbiter's stairway to heaven' (images)
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter has captured humanity's first-ever images of the sun's poles. If this doesn't seem like a big deal, consider that every image you have ever seen of the sun was taken from around our star's equator. That is because Earth, the other solar system planets, and all other modern spacecraft orbit the sun in a flat disc around it called the "ecliptic plane." This European Space Agency (ESA) sun-orbiting mission has done things a little differently, however, tilting its orbit out of that plane. This allowed the Solar Orbiter to image the sun from a whole new angle and in an entirely new way. The captured images of the solar south pole were taken between March 16 and 17, 2025, with the Solar Orbiter's Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI), Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI), and Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE) instruments. They constitute humanity's first ever look at the sun's poles. This was the Solar Orbiter mission's first high-angle observation campaign of the sun, conducted at an angle of 15 degrees below the solar equator. Just a few days after snapping these images, the ESA spacecraft reached a maximum viewing angle of 17 degrees, which it sits in currently as it performs its first "pole-to-pole" orbit of our star. "Spacecraft normally orbit the sun on the flat disc called the ecliptic plane, just like most of the planets in our solar system. This is the most energy-efficient way to launch and maintain orbits," co-principal leader of the Solar Orbiter's Extreme Ultraviolet Imager instrument, Hamish Reid of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory at University College London (UCL) said in a statement to "These first images of the solar poles are just the start. Over the next few years, there is scope for discovery science. "We are not sure what we will find, and it is likely we will see things that we didn't know about before." Another ESA/NASA spacecraft, Ulysses, has flown over the poles of the sun, but this spacecraft lacked an imaging instrument, and its passage of our star was also much further away than that of the Solar Orbiter. The Solar Orbiter is so useful for observing the sun because each of its instruments sees our star in very different ways. The PHI captures solar observations in visible light and is able to map its magnetic field. Meanwhile, the EUI images our star in ultraviolet light, which allows scientists to study the superheated plasma in the sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, which can reach temperatures as great as 5.4 million degrees Fahrenheit (around 3 million degrees Celsius). This could help solar scientists determine how the corona can reach temperatures much greater than the sun's surface, the photosphere, despite being much further away from the solar core, where the vast majority of the sun's heat is generated. The SPICE instrument of the Solar Orbiter, responsible for the bottom row of images in the picture above, is capable of capturing light emitted by plasmas at different temperatures above the surface of the sun. This helps to model the different layers of the solar atmosphere. Comparing these three different but complementary methods of observing the sun should allow solar scientists to map the flow of material through the outer layers of the sun. This effort could reveal hitherto undiscovered and unexpected patterns of movement, like vortices around the poles of the sun similar to those spotted above the poles of Venus and Saturn. All that is for the future, so what has this pioneering approach to solar observations revealed thus far? The main aim of the shift in Solar Orbiter's orbit around the sun is to build a more complete picture of our star's magnetic activity. This could help explain the sun's 11-year cycle that sees its activity increase toward solar maximum before the poles flip and a new cycle begins. "Being able to observe the poles is vital for understanding how the sun's magnetic field operates on a global scale, leading to an 11-year cycle in the sun's activity," Lucie Green of Mullard Space Science Laboratory at UCL, who has been working with the Solar Orbiter since 2005, said. "We'll see previously unobserved high-latitude flows that carry magnetic elements to the polar regions, and in doing so sow the fundamental seeds for the next solar cycle." Indeed, this approach has already revealed things we didn't know about our star's most southern region and its magnetism. "We didn't know what exactly to expect from these first observations – the sun's poles are literally terra incognita,' Sami Solanki, who leads the PHI instrument team from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS), said in a statement. One of the first discoveries made by the Solar Orbiter is the fact that the magnetic fields around the sun's southern poles appear to be, for lack of a better phrase, a complete mess. While standard magnetic fields have well-defined north and south poles, these new observations reveal that north and south polarities are both found at the sun's southern seems to happen at solar maximum when the poles of the sun are about to flip. Following this exchange of poles, the fields at the north and south poles will maintain an orderly single polarity during solar minimum until solar maximum during the next 11-year cycle. "How exactly this build-up occurs is still not fully understood, so Solar Orbiter has reached high latitudes at just the right time to follow the whole process from its unique and advantageous perspective," Solanki Solar Orbiter observations also revealed that while the equator of the sun, where the most sunspots appear, possesses the strongest magnetic fields, those at the poles of our star have a complex and ever-changing structure. The Solar Orbiter's SPICE instrument provided another first for the ESA spacecraft, allowing scientists to track elements via their unique emissions as they move through the sun. Tracing the specific spectral lines of elements like hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, neon, and magnesium, a process called "Doppler measurement," revealed how materials flow through different layers of the sun. The Solar Orbiter also allowed scientists to measure the speed of carbon atoms as they are ejected from the sun in plumes and jets. "The Solar Orbite''s new vantage point will give us a fuller view of how solar wind expands to form a vast bubble around the sun and its planets called the heliosphere," Principal Investigator on the Solar Wind Analyser and Mullard Space Science Laboratory at UCL researcher Chris Owen said in a statement to "We will now see this happen in three dimensions, enhancing the single slice we get from observing only in the ecliptic plane." SPICE team leader, Frédéric Auchère from the University of Paris-Saclay, explained that Doppler measurements of the solar wind flowing from the sun by other sun-orbiting missions have suffered because they could only get a grazing view of the solar poles. "Measurements from high latitudes, now possible with Solar Orbiter, will be a revolution in solar physics," Auchère added. Related Stories: — The sun's magnetic field will flip soon. Here's what to expect — How the Sun's Magnetic Field Works — Magnetic fields appear to be as old as the universe itself. What created them? Perhaps the most exciting element of these Solar Orbiter results is the fact that the best is yet to come. This initial data has not yet been fully analyzed, for instance, an image of the solar north pole has been captured but not downloaded yet. Also, data from the ESA mission's first full "pole-to-pole" orbit of the sun, which began in February 2025, will not arrive at Earth until October 2025. "This is just the first step of Solar Orbiter's 'stairway to heaven.' In the coming years, the spacecraft will climb further out of the ecliptic plane for ever better views of the sun's polar regions," ESA's Solar Orbiter project scientist Daniel Müller said. "These data will transform our understanding of the sun's magnetic field, the solar wind, and solar activity."
