Invest in ME’s 2016 international research conference in London ended on Friday with a talk by Professor Ron Davis on his “Severely Ill, Big Data” project that was described by patients as “mind-blowing” and “really exciting”. His talk was the culmination of three days of research presentations by leading names in biomedical ME/CFS research including
The Dutch ME/CFS Association (ME/CVS Vereniging) has posted the 80th in its video interview series, “Science to Patients” (“Wetenschap voor Patienten”), this time featuring British academic neuropsychiatrist Dr. Neil Harrison. Dr. Harrison, of Sussex University, discusses the possible role of inflammation in the brains of ME/CFS patients in seven mini-interviews in the series. In the
The Center for Infection and Immunity (CII) at the Mailman School of Public Health in New York is internationally recognized as the world’s largest and most advanced academic center in microbe discovery, identification and diagnosis. Dr. Lipkin and Dr. Hornig and the CII team are thoroughly on the case of ME/CFS but they need our community support.
Dr Hornig went into more depth about their published cytokine work, as well as what they are working on and trying to achieve. The talk was jam-packed with great science and information. Dr Hornig talks about the crisis in funding, looking at gene expression and gene variants, screening for up to 1.7 million vertebrate viruses, metabolomics, looking at how the immune system and the microbiome could affect metabolism and the brain – and much, much more!
Biomedical scientists from a range of disciplines met for a two-day workshop in Bristol on 13 and 14 April to discuss the ME/CFS “Grand Challenge” project, which plans to use a “big data” approach to the biochemistry of the illness and determine whether it is, as suspected, several different diseases. The study will be the biggest
Dr Charles Shepherd of the ME Association has announced that the UK’s ME/CFS Biobank is now ready to send blood samples to researchers anywhere in the world. The biobank is run by a team headed by Dr Luis Nacul at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and forms part of the main University
Australian researchers have found an abnormal centre in the brain which may explain problems with the signalling around the body.
ME/CFS patient and science blogger Simon McGrath has produced a patient-friendly version of a recent peer-reviewed editorial on the disease that appeared in the science journal Fatigue: Biomedicine, Health & Behavior. The article, titled The biological challenge of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: a solvable problem, became Fatigue’s most-read paper ever within a week of publication, with over 3700 views as
This year’s conference of the International Association for CFS/ME (IACFS/ME) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on 27–30 October will include speeches by Dr. Walter Koroshetz and Dr. Øystein Fluge. Dr Koroshetz, who is Director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and head of the Trans-NIH ME/CFS Working Group, will give the conference’s keynote
In Dr. Albright’s study of the families of ME/CFS patients in Utah, risk of ME was found to be 2.7 times greater in first-degree relatives of ME patients, 2.3 times greater in second-degree relatives, and 1.93 times greater in third-degree relatives. This familial clustering is the basis for new research in Norway, where scientists are
