56 | New Scientist | 24 August 2019
The back pages The Q&A
Multiple sclerosis research pioneer
Catherine Lubetzki has just won the
Charcot Award for work that could one
day halt the progression of the diseaseAs a child, what did you want
to do when you grew up?
I didn’t know. I just knew I wanted
to work with people.Explain what you do in one easy paragraph.
I divide my time between working with patients
and coordinating research. Multiple sclerosis
occurs when the immune system mistakenly
attacks the fatty myelin coating around
nerve fibres. Our research tries to figure out
how we can repair this protective coating. We
also want to understand how MS progresses.What do you love most about what you do?
The best part of my job is listening to the
all-important information that patients tell us
about their lived experience of MS. But I also like
discussing research projects with the team.Were you good at science at school?
I loved biology, but hated maths. I was also
(and still am) an avid reader, so I was very
into literature and poetry.If you could send a message back to
yourself as a kid, what would you say?
In France, students always shy away from asking
questions. My advice would be, “Don’t be afraid
to ask. No question is a stupid one.”What’s the most exciting thing
you’re working on right now?
I’m very excited about a trial that my team is
developing on optic neuritis – inflammation of
the optic nerve. We will test how the stimulation
of electrical activity in the nerve can repair
myelin. It could lead to extremely important
discoveries about ways of remyelinating nerves
and possibly halting the progression of MS.If you could have a long conversation
with any scientist, living or dead,
who would it be?
Jean-Baptiste Charcot – the son of Jean-Martin
Charcot, who made the first diagnosis of MS in- Jean-Baptiste studied neurology, but after
his father’s death he travelled the world in a boat
called Pourquoi-Pas? (“why not?”) and explored
the Antarctic. I would love to hear his adventures.
What discovery are you most proud of?
A special moment was when our team discovered
that it is electrical activity in the nerves that gives
the signal for the myelination process to begin.How has your field of study changed in
the time you have been working in it?
Twenty years ago, I was part of a global meeting
where, for three days, we focused on myelination
in MS. At the end, a number of MS experts
concluded that there was no future for myelin
repair in MS. I was unbelievably disappointed.
But today, there are several trials looking into
exactly this, and research is very much dedicated
to finding answers to the repair process in MS.Do you have an unexpected hobby, and
if so, please will you tell us about it?
I love to hike in the Alps. Last month, I was on a
pass that reached 3300 metres.What’s the best thing you’ve read or seen
in the past 12 months?
Myelin: The brain’s supercharger by Florence
Rosier and Bernard Zalc, a colleague who also
happens to be my husband.How useful will your skills be after
the apocalypse?
I’m agnostic on a potential apocalypse, but I
am very conscious of the growing threat that
global warming poses for us all. It’s something
we desperately need to address.OK, one last thing: tell us something that
will blow our minds...
So many of the secrets to understanding MS lie
in the patients themselves. The way that people
with MS and other conditions know their disease
is fundamental to us in our research. I find the
courage, energy and determination of many
of my patients to be mind-blowing – lessons
in life for us all. ❚Catherine Lubetzki is professor of neurology at
Sorbonne University and heads the neurology
department at Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris.“ The trial we
are developing
could lead to
ways of halting
the progression
of multiple
sclerosis”
PORTRAIT: FREDIMAGE, COURTESY OF CATHERINE LUBETZKI