More than £75,000 has been received this year to support Multiple Sclerosis (MS) research at Queen's University, Belfast. Northern Ireland has the second highest incidence of MS in the world with over 4,000 people locally and 100,000 in the UK living with the debilitating disease.

The John Wilson Memorial Trust funded the purchase of a key piece of equipment, a Robosep machine, to enable researchers to work more effectively and efficiently on the analysis of patient blood samples.

The MS Research group at Queen's University, led by Dr Denise Fitzgerald, is aiming to develop a new class of treatments for those with MS, improving the quality of life and potentially leading to restoring lost functions.

Dr Fitzgerald said: "We are extremely grateful to the Trust for providing the funds to purchase the Robosep. Already we can see the impact on our work and we're speeding up the process of understanding the disease which ultimately will lead to new, more effective treatments for patients."

Nick Coburn, Group Managing Director, Deputy Chairman of Ulster Carpets and Chair of the John Wilson Memorial Trust said: " We are delighted to have the opportunity to support innovative research at Queen's in MS. Many of us have family members who are or have been impacted by this disease and it is encouraging to see the development of new treatments that will improve the quality of life for people with MS."