Inside Innovation

The Bigger Picture

MRF also uses the network mapper to help shape its strategy. Multiple sclerosis causes inflammation in the brain and spinal cord, so MRF is interested in who is doing broader work on inflammation. "One of the things you always have to ask yourself is, has somebody developed an anti-inflammatory approach for another disease that might be relevant to our disease?" says Bromley.

Individual scientists—even those who do interdisciplinary work—are limited by the size of their personal networks. Previously, MRF specialists would have had to scan the landscape for insights the old-fashioned way, laboriously scouring academic databases themselves. This map is the result of the tool's doing that for them. It searched a whole array of medical literature, from sources such as the National Library of Medicine, on compounds and proteins that have been shown to reduce inflammation. Results and data are displayed in an easily digestible format.