Dr McKay, a research officer at the Westmead Millennium Institute at Sydney University, will use the $22,000 grant from the Trish MS Research Foundation to explore how genes predispose a person to MS.

Dr McKay said her work was inspired by other researchers at the Westmead institute, and their involvement in an international MS genetics study that yielded some interesting results.

"It's been a really exciting time in MS genetic research in the last couple of years and we now know from that research that there are over 110 genes that predispose people to MS," she said.

"Now we've got the grand task of working out what information these genes can tell us about what causes MS, and also what they can tell us about how we can treat it better."

Dr McKay will use the incubator grant to look at one particular piece of the puzzle - the link between the Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) and MS.

"EBV is the virus that causes glandular fever but it has also been associated with MS, however we don't know if it's causal or a side effect," she said.

"The grant will help us investigate this association to see if there's any impact of the genes we now know predispose us to MS on the EBV infection.

"And whether part of this susceptibility to MS might be caused by increased susceptibility to EBV or an increased reaction to it."

The Trish MS Research Foundation was established in memory of Trish Langsford, who lost her battle with the debilitating disease in 2002. The foundation works closely with MS Research Australia towards the common goal of finding a cure.

"The incubator grant is designed to provide the opportunity to get some preliminary data on an idea, with promising results to be used as leverage to get larger grants," Dr McKay said.

lwachsmuth@fairfaxmedia.com.au