The Blue Ribbon Foundation, the non-profit behind the documentary Forgotten Plague, has an educational and research agenda. In addition to getting the film in front of as many people in the medical and health profession as possible, one of the primary programs they have created is a student fellowship for medical students to assist in top ME research
On May 24, 2016, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) released the first ever Request for Information (RFI) regarding ME/CFS, requesting submissions addressing new research strategies for the disease. Solve ME/CFS Initiative (SMCI) submitted a unique and pointed response to this RFI in the form of an imitation funding announcement.
The Solve ME/CFS Initiative (SMCI) is now accepting applications for the Ramsay Award Program in basic, preclinical, clinical, and epidemiology research. This competitive grant award is open to scientists and researchers at any career stage who are interested in studying myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)/chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).
Phoenix Rising’s Mark Berry was at the recent Invest in ME conference and has written an excellent report: A New Decade of ME Research: The 11th Invest in ME International ME Conference 2016 As the article is quite long, here are some tasters (my summaries, with quotes from Mark’s article) to whet your appetite for
The Open Medicine Foundation (OMF) is inviting patients and supporters to send Dr. Ron Davis a message for his birthday and a donation to support his End ME/CFS Project. The OMF said that the messages would be compiled into a “massive card” that would be presented to him. Dr. Davis, of Stanford University, will be
Last year was a pivotal point in the battle against ME/CFS. Game-changing reports from the Institute of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health’s Pathways to Prevention Workshop delivered long awaited public credibility for our disease. The federal ME/CFS landscape has shifted, and there is newfound openness and awareness among key governmental agencies. This positive change has heightened the battle as we fight for scientific understanding, fight for treatments and fight for a cure.
Signs of bacterial infection and inflammation Recently, a team of researchers led by Ludovic Giloteaux of Cornell University measured the levels of several biomarkers in 49 ME/CFS patients and 39 controls, including LPS to measure bacteria in the bloodstream and CD14 and C-reactive protein to measure inflammation. Researchers also measured the levels of intestinal fatty
Dr. David Tuller has provided an overview and update of his work criticizing the PACE trial in a podcast interview with Professor Vincent Racaniello on This Week in Virology (TWiV). Dr. Tuller, of University of California, Berkeley, published a series of damning critiques of the study on Professor Racaniello’s Virology Blog, starting with a lengthy article
Leading scientists, organisations and patients around the world have responded to the US National Institutes of Health’s (NIH’s) Request for Information to guide its research strategy on ME/CFS. It is the first time that the NIH has asked for public input on the disease. The request, made in May, drew public responses from Dr. Ronald
Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) have revealed that they spent £250,000 on legal fees in the recent tribunal concerning the release of anonymised data from the PACE trial. Their statement was made in response to a query made under the Freedom of Information Act by Mr. John Peters. QMUL paid £160,000 to Mills &
