Thank you for the question.
As you know, it's very important to understand where research is needed, what the gaps are in our knowledge, and particularly what relates to the relationship between cerebrovascular events and MS, including cerebrospinal venous insufficiency, but not only linked exclusively to insufficiency. What are the links between it and blood flow? What are the links between cerebrovasculature and MS? It's clearly an area of importance.
As you know, recent studies suggest there may be hope for new therapeutic approaches. Our intent is to determine the truly important research questions. What's the state-of-the-art in that area right now? Do we know what ongoing clinical trials there are? What don't we know that we must address?
This conference will be held in August. It's being jointly organized by the MS Society and CIHR. We will be calling upon top researchers in the world from Canada and abroad--experts in the neuroscience field and in the cerebrovascular field--to meet in Ottawa to give us a good idea of the state-of-the-art in terms of research, questions, and gaps in analysis and to help us orient our future investment in research in these areas.