Still, as she listened to scientists, physicians and entrepreneurs talk Thursday about their different approaches to tackling multiple sclerosis, she couldn't help but get excited.

Diagnosed with M.S. almost three decades ago, Artman is now in a wheelchair and aggressively trying, through physical therapy, to walk on her own again.

While Artman isn't counting on a cure in her lifetime, the collaborations being born at the University of Utah's Brain Institute give the 54-year-old hope for future generations struck by the disease.

"If you could cure M.S., if you could find out why [it occurs] and stop that, you could have children without fear of passing it on," she said.

Unraveling the autoimmune disease - what causes it, how to treat it, and someday, how to cure it - requires work in more than just one discipline of science. The hard part, however, is connecting the University of Utah's more than 100 faculty neuroscience investigators who work in areas ranging from research to clinical care.

That's where the U.'s Brain Institute comes in, said executive director Thomas Parks. Founded two years ago by a group of people that include Nobel laureate Mario Capecchi, the Brain Institute's job is to reach out to the community, facilitate the creation of interdisciplinary teams and get them plugged into different funding sources.

"We would like to get them talking with each other and working together," Parks said.

A chronic, inflammatory disease that affects the central nervous system, M.S. can cause a variety of symptoms, including changes in sensation, visual problems, muscle weakness, depression, difficulties with coordination and speech and cognitive impairment.

At the Research Park meeting, the audience heard presentations touching on everything from how viruses may trigger M.S. to a new glial cell therapy developed by local biotech company Q Therapeutics. That therapy, said CEO Deborah Eppstein, will soon be tested in people with transverse myelitis, a cousin of the disease.

"People with a strong investment [in M.S.] - the M.S. society, patients with M.S., everybody who cares about M.S. - we would like to have part of this work," Park said.

Annette Royle, president of the Utah chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, said such a collaborative effort capitalizes on a wealth of knowledge in the state's own backyard. Plus, she said, it helps organizations such as her own better identify opportunities to fund research.

"We serve a lot of people with M.S. and there is a connection between research and care," said Royle, who pointed out that about 24,000 Utah families are in some way affected by the disease. "So we're really excited to be a part of that."

The next step, said interdisciplinary research manager Amy Mozdy, is to help the collaborating researchers form a steering committee, and then subcommittees, that will work on those aspects of M.S. most ripe for exploration.

The Brain Institute will then help point the researchers to places where they can get funding, as well as provide basic logistical support. A new university software program called "Unite," for example, will provide them with an online workspace where they can create lab groups, track publications, manage documents and keep up with funding opportunities.

With spinal cord and M.S. teams already mobilizing, Mozdy said, the Brain Institute is now looking ahead to next year, when it hopes to begin work on autism, epilepsy and hydrocephalus, and eventually, Alzheimer's disease, depression, Parkinson's disease, stroke and substance abuse.

Within five years, the Brain Institute hopes to become a nationally recognized center with more than 200 employees and 20 endowed chairs.

Parks said other benchmarks of success, however, would be more funding, collaborative publications and "something exciting," he said. "Like a cure."

lrosetta@sltrib.com