Dr. Greenstein’s background in Neurology, Neuropathy, Virology and Immunology will allow him to use his skills to focus on the central problem of the cause of MS and to develop more effective treatments.
The goal of MSRI is to perform the highest quality research and to provide outstanding education about this research in the field of Multiple Sclerosis. The research is focused on unraveling the etiology of this devastating disease while bringing us closer to new, more efficacious treatments.
It has become clear that a class of T-cells (cells that help and regulate immune responses) known as regulatory T-cells (Treg) are key to the development of tissue specific autoimmune diseases such as MS; where the immune system damages myelin, the insulator of nerve fibers. For various reasons, when Treg are not controlled (by genetic and environmental factors or both) they may allow, and in some cases, actually aggravate autoimmune responses. Much has been learned about the development and function of Treg in animals, but it is apparent that in some ways these cells behave differently in humans than animals, and that the results of animal testing do not easily translate into useful information regarding human disease. Therefore, it is imperative to study MS in the people who develop it.
Research at MSRI is dedicated solely to studying function of the human immune system to determine what allows autoimmunity to occur in MS. Dr. Greenstein has identified a failure of Treg to control immune responses to certain proteins in the body, which is latent, but which becomes fully manifest when the disease is active. Work continues on the molecular pathways by which this occurs. In time these studies will incorporate how genes thought to be associated with MS are involved in this process; and how the immune system in MS is modulated by environmental factors, such as pregnancy, intercurrent infections, diet, etc. The projected work will use state-of-the-art technologies such as flow cytometry cell analysis, flow cytometry cell sorting, DNA and RNA sequencing, in vitro (in cells in the lab) gene engineering, PCR and the study of gene regulation to investigate why MS occurs, how it modifies immune cell function, and how this pathway can be prevented or modified to control the disease.
Dr. Greenstein received a medical degree from the University of Cape Town Medical School in South Africa, and then completed a residency in Neurology and Fellowship in Neuropathology at Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital (Case Western Reserve University) in Cleveland, OH. He was then a Fellow and Senior Fellow in the Neuroimmunology Branch, NINDS of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD, where he studied virology and immunology. Dr. Greenstein is Board Certified in Neurology and served for many years as Chairman and Professor of Neurology at Temple University School of Medicine, where he also was Founder and Director of the Multiple Sclerosis Center at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. He carried out basic immunology studies on the cause of MS while at Temple.
He then transitioned to Graduate Hospital where he founded the Multiple Sclerosis Institute to focus his clinical activities specifically on Multiple Sclerosis. It was then that he founded the Multiple Sclerosis Research Institute, where he works on a voluntary basis, in order to develop a laboratory to continue immunology research in MS. Support for MSRI allows the research to continue and the facility to continue to acquire necessary equipment to support its mission.
In order to develop the laboratory, he moved to Penn Treaty Park Place as it combined handicapped access for patients with a building that could physically accommodate the needs of a research laboratory. This has now been accomplished, and the state-of-the-art facility will allow cutting edge science to be used to attain the MSRI goals of:
Find, Stop and Cure MS
Dr. Greenstein is widely published in scientific and neurology journals and has been on the Board of Trustees of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society as well as the recipient of its Hope Award. His publications include clinical trials, the appropriate design of clinical trials, the development of therapies for MS and the immunology of MS. Selected papers are posted on the MSRI website.
The Multiple Sclerosis Research Institute is a non-profit foundation founded by Dr. Jeffrey I. Greenstein to Find, Stop and Cure MS. These three terms represent what he believes we can discover through his research:
FIND
Find the cause of MS by determining why specific immune cells called regulatory T cells are not doing their job and, therefore, allow other types of immune cells to damage myelin in the brain and spinal cord.
STOP
Until there is a cure for MS we need to stop both relapses and the progression of the disease. Studies at MSRI have focused on developing better treatments for MS and reducing the risks associated with current therapies.
CURE
Intercepting the cause will result in a cure.
The Multiple Sclerosis Research Institute is a 503(c)(3) non-profit organization.
Federal Tax ID# 20-1354368
Penn Treaty Park
1341 N. Delaware Ave, Suite 213
Philadelphia PA 19125
Phone: (267) 597-3833
Fax: (267) 597-3831
Web: www.MSResearchInstitute.org