Class of 1991
Associate Professor
Departments of Immunology and Neurology & Neurotherapeutics
UT Southwestern Medical Center
Dallas, Texas<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the last half-century, patients with early symptoms of multiple sclerosis had to wait months or years to get an accurate diagnosis. Now, the FDA may approve a quicker and more accurate diagnostic tool \u2014 one designed by Nancy Monson \u201991 and her colleagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As an immunologist, Nancy studies the body\u2019s immune system and the antibodies it uses to detect and defend against threats. Those antibodies are what keep healthy people healthy \u2014 creating immunity after a vaccination, for example. However, in patients with MS, the body\u2019s immune system also produces antibodies that target the brain. Those antibodies\u2019 attacks eventually cause permanent nerve damage. But until now, no one has known which antibodies were responsible for those attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2009, after several years of laboratory research, Nancy\u2019s team identified those antibodies. Since then, they developed a process to see whether those harmful antibodies are present in a patient\u2019s in spinal fluid. The tool, known as \u201cMS Precise,\u201d is more than 90 percent accurate and has already passed the midpoint of the FDA\u2019s clinical trial process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nancy is quick to note that her team has been a crucial part of this work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe work that we do really requires these massive interdisciplinary teams \u2014 teams with physicians, basic scientists, nurses, all sorts of professions,\u201d she says. \u201cI learned that type of interdisciplinary teamwork when I was in college, and it\u2019s a crucial skill set.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She also credits the University\u2019s culture with helping her devote her life to this kind of patient-focused research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAt Valpo, compassion for humans, for fellow human beings, was emphasized and cherished,\u201d she says. \u201cI came to Valpo wanting to be a scientist, but I went into clinical immunology because of Valpo. It shaped me to become a scientist who could help humans.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nancy Monson \u201991 is developing a diagnostic tool for multiple sclerosis \u2014 the first one in 50 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":2233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10,16,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biology","category-alumni-spotlight","category-biology-alumni-spotlight"],"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"nicholaswhipple","author_link":"https:\/\/staging.valpo.edu\/college-of-arts-and-sciences\/author\/nicholaswhipple\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/staging.valpo.edu\/college-of-arts-and-sciences\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/07\/MONSONFINAL-300x169.webp","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Biology<\/a>","Alumni Spotlight<\/a>","Biology Alumni Spotlight<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Biology<\/span>","Alumni Spotlight<\/span>","Biology Alumni Spotlight<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 9 months ago","modified":"Updated 9 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on July 23, 2025","modified":"Updated on July 24, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on July 23, 2025 3:05 pm","modified":"Updated on July 24, 2025 8:04 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.valpo.edu\/college-of-arts-and-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.valpo.edu\/college-of-arts-and-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.valpo.edu\/college-of-arts-and-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.valpo.edu\/college-of-arts-and-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.valpo.edu\/college-of-arts-and-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2232"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/staging.valpo.edu\/college-of-arts-and-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2236,"href":"https:\/\/staging.valpo.edu\/college-of-arts-and-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2232\/revisions\/2236"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.valpo.edu\/college-of-arts-and-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.valpo.edu\/college-of-arts-and-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.valpo.edu\/college-of-arts-and-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.valpo.edu\/college-of-arts-and-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}