When dramatic advances in gene technology emerged, notably in the ability to sequence the genetic make-up of humans, there was “a great wave of enthusiasm”. With it came belief new forms of treatment for diseases would quickly follow, Prof Stephen Sawcer recalls.

That equally applied to “autoimmune diseases”, conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the body. Much progress has been made in identifying genetic factors linked to MS since, “but it hasn’t translated into an obvious treatment”, the Cambridge University-based researcher accepts.

People said “the problem is still there”, and as a consequence there was a loss of interest among research funding agencies, he notes, though an enormous amount of samples were provided by patients willing to participate in genetic studies.

Through a new alliance with Genomics Medicine Ireland (GMI), which uses that genetic sequencing technology in big research projects, he believes the necessary breakthrough is now realisable.

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