Barancik Prize Awarded to Sergio E. Baranzini, PhD at ACTRIMS 2024

This year, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society has awarded Sergio E. Baranzini, PhD the prestigious Barancik Prize for Innovation in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Research. Professor Baranzini is a geneticist, neuroimmunologist, and data scientist at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and he is being honored for his groundbreaking work in utilizing “big data” to better understand the mechanisms underlying MS and to develop targeted strategies to combat the disease more effectively. Professor Baranzini will receive the prize at the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in MS (ACTRIMS) Forum 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida on March 1st, where he will deliver the Prize Lecture.

The Barancik Prize for Innovation in MS Research is awarded each year to recognize exceptional innovation and originality in scientific research. Some specific accomplishments of Professor include the following:

• The establishment of the international MS microbiome study (iMSMS), a research project undertaken to investigate the role of gut microbiota in MS, which has enrolled over 2000 participants to date.
• The development of SPOKE, a knowledge graph that connects data from more than 30 databases, integrating the past 50 years of biomedical data derived from research and clinical practice with the goal of identifying patterns to potentially may help predict MS in individuals.
• The publication of a pivotal research paper that linked gene variants to accelerated MS progression with a population of over 20,000 participants with MS. This study also identified the role of tobacco smoke in worsening MS outcomes and the role of educational attainment in improving MS outcomes.

“Professor Baranzini has the vision and creativity to apply the power of global collaborations and big data to tackle complex questions surrounding multiple sclerosis,” said Bruce Bebo, PhD, Executive Vice President of Research Programs at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. “He is truly a trailblazer whose important contributions are driving progress in understanding multiple sclerosis and translating them to advance pathways to MS cures.”

Professor Baranzini is a Professor of Neurology at the UCSF Weill Institute for Neuroscience. He completed his undergraduate (BS) and graduate degrees (MS and PhD) in Biochemistry and Biotechnology at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina, and he served as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Neurogenetics at UCSF.

                                                                         Professor Sergio E. Baranzini