Project Grant R01NS146233

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke awarded The Washington University $618,001 on September 1, 2026, under the Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders program (CFDA 93.853) to develop and validate deuterium metabolic spectroscopy and imaging (DMS/I) as a technique for non-invasively measuring brain glucose and ketone metabolism in multiple sclerosis.

The project uses deuterium-labeled metabolic tracers to investigate how energy substrate utilization varies across different stages of MS in preclinical models, from lesion formation through spontaneous recovery and therapeutic intervention. The work encompasses three primary aims: evaluating glucose metabolism during lesion formation and recovery, characterizing ketone body utilization as an alternative energy source during disease progression and repair, and assessing the potential of metabolic probes to monitor therapeutic efficacy. Ex vivo biochemical and histopathological analyses will validate the imaging findings.

Performance occurs in St. Louis, Missouri, with a period of performance from September 1, 2026, through May 31, 2031. This is a Project Grant, the standard assistance type for investigator-initiated research under the NINDS extramural portfolio. The award addresses the unmet need for direct, quantitative imaging of cerebral metabolic processes that current structural MRI methods fail to capture, with potential application to disease outcome prediction and therapeutic response evaluation in MS.