Pioneering Progress in the Pursuit of Answers for ME- What’s Next?
Dear Friends and Supporters,
As the year comes around to the planning of our International ME Conference Week it is often a time to reflect on what has been done and what needs to be done.
This approach was reflected in our past research Colloquiums where
a new approach for structuring the
presentations
was initiated in order to focus more effort on determining the information
that was relevant to making progress.
We were pleased to see that the recent NIH Roadmap of webinars during 2023-24 had adopted this same approach to use
for structuring their webinars.
Since 2005, Invest in ME Research has maintained an unwavering commitment to driving significant strides in the field of
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) research.
As an independent UK charity facilitating and funding a strategy of high-quality biomedical research and promoting better
education about ME,
our journey has been marked by relentless dedication to using innovation to progress biomedical research.
How else could it be as the charity is run by volunteers - patients or parents of children with ME - no salaries, no government
funding,
not controlled by outside influences - but with wonderful supporters?
In this period, we have organised sixteen influential annual conferences,
hosted thirteen annual, progressive, international biomedical research colloquiums, (a sequence broken only by the pandemic),
and facilitated four early career researcher workshops.
Notably, we have established the first Fellowship for ME, completed five PhDs,
and are on the brink of initiating our second Fellowship.
The charity is also funding the only clinical trial for ME in the UK,
and is looking to fund more research that is on the way,
embodying the urgency that defines our approach in translating research into
tangible outcomes,
where all of our income is used to fund and facilitate biomedical research into ME.
Beyond borders, we have been involved in the recent NIH Roadmap Research Programme and fostered and galvanised collaboration
through
the creation of European groups for patients, researchers, clinicians, and young researchers, driving international initiatives
that support and strengthen our shared mission.
Our journey has seen the foundations of the Centre of Excellence for ME firmly in place in Norwich Research Park, a beacon
of hope for
advancing research and developing treatments. The one missing element - adequate funding - would expedite and complete our
efforts
for the benefit of all patients.
In the last parliamentary debate on ME, we laid out a bold vision for research, proposing a substantial allocation to
kick-start biomedical
research and support the foundations that we have laid.
We recently made a document
to update all MPs on the opportunities that have been created.
It is this vision that defines a small charity and its dedicated supporters.
Likewise, we have made the case for investment in the centre in Norwich Research Park in the DHSC/UKCRC
though, unfortunately, our ideas have neither been fully distributed nor discussed, resulting in no tangible progress being
achieved in two years of meetings.
Our involvement in the recent far more productive NIH Roadmap Research Programme has
guided our Colloquium planning, shaping this year's theme - "Acknowledging
the acceptance by
both clinicians and researchers of 'THE INFECTIOUS AETIOLOGY’ of ME/CFS" focuses on uncovering the
complexities of ME,
exploring acute infection,
chronic infection, and co-infection.
And asking What's Next?'
The conference and colloquium are ideal timing as they directly follow from the anticipated NIH Roadmap report to be
published just before our International Conference Week - so much to discuss and plan.
Our colloquiums and conferences provide an international platform for education and collaboration - uniting professionals,
patients,
researchers, doctors, nurses, the media, and ME - and bridging the clinical and research divide to focus on benefits for patients.
This unique week-long set of events encapsulates a workshop for young/early career researchers, a two-day closed research Colloquium, a public
international conference, and associated events — a testament to our commitment to fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange.
As we open the conference registration it is an invitation to join us in shaping the future of ME research and building upon
the foundation laid for almost two decades.
The name of our charity truly becomes the main calling for all interested in resolving this disease. What better slogan to use at this point in time than the one that this small charity has uniquely been promoting for so long. Time to #InvestinMEresearch.
Welcome to our conference week.
Kathleen McCall
Chairman Invest in ME Research
Addendum:
Philanthropy is about 'giving' -
not just in terms of funding - although we are eternally grateful to those supporting the charity and to partners The Hendrie Foundation
for their
consistent and generous support for the RESTORE_ME clinical trial; and to LunaNova for their funding of the LunaNova fellowship that begins
this year.
Also appreciated are non-monetary aspects, such as time, ideas, raising awareness of what the charity is trying to do,
or being a volunteer.
We are justifiably proud of what our supporters have achieved and they deserve recognition for all their support and efforts
to bring change to the landscape of ME
research and awareness.
Looking at what has been achieved and exists in Norwich Research Park we hope that 2024 will witness adequate funding forthcoming to support and augment the research at the centre and and justify the incredible support received from patients, carers and friends.
What are we doing
Our strategy has been to concentrate, as best as we can, on setting up some of the key building blocks that would create sustainable and permanent change in how ME is researched and treated.
IiMER is finding, funding and facilitating biomedical research into ME in a variety of ways and is focused on -
- creating solid foundations for a research programme on ME
- solving scientific questions relating to ME
- finding treatments that are based on research evidence
- raising standards on all levels of patient care
- facilitating European and international collaboration
- changing attitudes toward ME from within institutes and organisations via funded researchers and medical students
What we are doing
The charity's proposal for a Centre of Excellence for ME is possible to achieve and it has set a target which can be reached if enough support is obtained.
Our plans to develop a Centre of Excellence for ME have captured the imagination and is clearly seen as the way ahead - and good progress on this foundation has been made, although with more resources this could be expedited for the benefit of all patients.
Why we are doing this
Resources for research into ME are scarce and funding has been negligible. This cascades onto the provision of services and treatments.
By developing a focal point for research, information and clinical care in Europe it allows
a more strategic and coordinated approach to research which can influence healthcare more easily than having a scattered approach
to research.
The benefits of this approach will, we are sure, save lives and could help restore or improve the lives of hundreds of thousands
of patients and their families.
What are the benefits?
What we are doing
A clinical trial which will raise the profile of ME and achieve scientific objectives
Why we are doing this
ME requires research. Only via biomedical research can treatments be developed.
What are the benefits?
- The only clinical trial for ME in the UK currently, and one of only a few in the world.
- It is being carried out by world class researchers in state of the art facilities in a leading research park in Europe.
- a cohort of patients will be recruited based on modern diagnostic criteria
- Treatment is tested in a blinded manner to guide future recommendations
- Research questions studied
- Biological samples stored in a biobank for future use
- Data collected and stored
- Patient registry created
- Introducing new researchers and clinicians to the field
- New outcome measures will be specified
- Ideas for other lines of research is bringing into the mix new researchers, a university and university hospital and a major ME clinic
- Raising public awareness and enormous publicity for ME
RESTORE-ME: A Quadram Institute based Clinical Trial in ME
Bacteriotherapy and Clinical Trials
Purpose: To undertake a study to determine the effectiveness of faecal microbiome transplantation as a treatment for ME: The RESTORE-ME study
Aim: To determine if there is a cause and effect relationship between a dysbiotic intestinal microbiota and ME by determining if treatment by FMT can resolve ME symptoms.
The charity received an application and this has gone through an independent peer-review process satisfactorily.
Thanks to great supporters and very generous and wonderful support from The Hendrie Foundation the charity been able to fund fully the amount required for the trial to take place.
This project harnesses together practically all elements of the Centre of Excellence for ME and would be a showcase for ME clinical trial and research.
Read More
High-quality biomedical research from top researchers in the leading European research park
, complete with university and university hospital.
Further research is being built on top of the planned clinical trial which will allow us to perform more with the resources we have
and may lead to further discovery.
Further news coming soon.
Quadram Institute Read More
PhD students introduced to research (a strategic aspiration of 3 per year for 5 years) as part of the five year plan to implement the Centre
Read MoreThis trip really signified the culmination of the PhD journey; I was more than excited to visit Washington to present work on house-bound ME & represent @Invest_in_ME who funded my studentship. I wouldn’t have a PhD without the charity and support of the ME community - thank you. https://t.co/Lswk1CPb8y
— Dr. Daniel Vipond (@DanielVipond) May 5, 2019
From 2023 the charity, in partnership with Quadram Institute in Norwich Research Park,
has initiated the Invest in ME Research Postdoctoral Fellowship
to increase capacity and expand the research base.
See Press Release here.
We would like to add more fellowships/post-docs at the centre to continue
the research strategy.
Our first Fellowship was announced in this press release
Read MoreA scheme for medical students to be involved in research into ME - at the Centre which allows them to have a sound knowledge of ME that will influence their peers and take that forward in their careers.
The charity has already funded several medical students to participate in research during their medical curriculum.
Apart from raising awareness and improving the knowledge of peers this has also
led to useful results -
https://quadram.ac.uk/do-the-answers-to-mecfs-lie-within-our-gut/
and
IIMEC10 Conference London
Read More
Requesting funding for research is not going to be productive if there is no infrastructure to support it.
The charity has instigated several initiatives to begin to build this presence in the absence
of a European strategy.
European ME Alliance (EMEA)
Invest in ME Research is a founder member of the European ME Alliance (EMEA)
The European ME Alliance is a grouping of European organisations who are involved in supporting patients suffering from myalgic encephalomyelitis and are campaigning for funding for biomedical research to provide treatments and cures for ME.
A European ME Research Group forming with collaboration and working together as themes - themes that have been the essence for our international research Colloquiums - with real international cooperation forming which can only lead to a better future for patients than would otherwise be the case.
European ME Research Group (EMERG)
EMERG brings together the foremost European ME researchers in order to establish an understanding of the Aetiology, Pathogenesis and Epidemiology of ME.
EMERG was intended to create a vision of collaborative European research to increase biomedical research into ME and provide an opportunity to make huge and rapid progress in ME research.
Many of the researchers have been meeting for years in the Invest in ME Research International Biomedical Research into ME Colloquiums events that have fostered collaboration, built new ideas and shared knowledge. The charity has emphasised world-wide international collaboration.
It has been increasingly evident, though, that we really do need a European base of research.
EMERG is currently working on research proposals including the post-Covid-19 situation.
EMERG is supported by the European ME patient groups and charities within the European ME Alliance (EMEA) to provide a powerful combination of campaigning, raising of awareness, building new research and accumulation of data based on collaboration and sharing of experiences and knowledge, which would allow rapid progress in the building up a strategy of high-quality research into ME.
European ME Clinicians Council (EMECC)
Invest in ME Research formed the European ME Clinicians Council (EMECC) in collaboration with leading European clinicians who are involved in treating people with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.
This followed an American initiative that was started by Dr Lucinda Bateman and Mary Dimmock.
The inaugural meeting brought together clinicians in the field of ME to review the current state of knowledge, to present and discuss the latest initiatives, and to foster collaboration.
We wanted this to become a formal group that will work with the American initiative and be supported by European patient organisations - and crucially interact with European researchers in EMERG.
The EMECC initiative was designed to overlap with the EMERG meeting - bringing researchers and clinicians together and this is part of the European strategy created by IiMER and which, with the European ME Alliance, forms the nucleus of making rapid progress in research, education and advocacy for ME.
The group has continued to meet to develop the network so that it could improve the knowledge of clinicians in Europe and act as a focal point for healthcare agencies, doctors and media outlets who wish to learn more from experienced clinicians about ME.
Invest in ME Research wished to honour the memory and work of the Swedish ME patient and friend of IiMER, Anne Örtegren, by setting up
a joint UK-Swedish PhD studentship which would see the long-standing collaboration between Norwich and Uppsala University continue.
This is an initiative created by the charity that we had hoped would link the research of Professors Blomberg and Bergquist with the Norwich Centre.
Following the passing of Professor Blomberg earlier in 2019 then the project
is continuing within the European ME Research Group (EMERG) and with the collaboration between IiMER, Quadram Institute, University of East Anglia and Professor Bergquist at Uppsala University.
The PhD studentship is funded by Invest in ME Research and UEA.
UEA – Invest in ME Research European PhD Studentship
International Biomedical Research Colloquiums bringing researchers together.
The research Colloquiums now attract researchers from around the world to a meeting where
they are free to discuss, share ideas and collaborate.
Since 2011 the charity has been organising an annual international CPD-accredited biomedical research Colloquium on ME aimed at increasing international collaboration on research into ME.
In 2022 IiMER hopes to have the largest biomedical research into ME Colloquium in the world occurring in London in May.
Past BRMEC Colloquiums
The Invest in ME Research public Conferences began in 2006 – providing a platform for biomedical research into ME and to allow
researchers, clinicians and patients to come together and share experiences and knowledge
In 2011 the charity decided to create a forum for researchers – a place where international researchers could meet and discuss and collaborate.
This formed our Biomedical Research into ME Colloquium – bringing together the best biomedical research from around the world and
facilitate the sharing of knowledge and develop ideas around biomedical research into ME - always in the heart of London.
This would create a family of international researchers who could work together for the benefit of people with ME.
The Colloquiums continue to grow in size every year and
now regularly attract
researchers from fifteen countries
and now sees the largest gathering of the world's biomedical researchers for ME in London with
excellent opportunities for networking amongst peers.
Past Colloquiums can be seen via the link below.
read moreInternational ME Conferences that allow researchers, clinicians, patient groups and carers to interact and network.
In 2022 we will organise Europe’s largest international ME conference open to the public - our fifteenth international ME conference that regularly brings together people from twenty different countries from around the world.
Since 2006 the charity has been arranging an annual international CPD-accredited biomedical research conference on ME.
The IiMER annual conferences and research colloquiums arranged by the charity now attract presenters, researchers, physicians, patient groups and journalists from around the world.
The charity has been attempting to move things forward over the years, as can be seen from the themes of the last fifteen conferences -
- An Update on Research into ME - Post-Pandemic(IIMEC15)
- #InvestinMEresearch (IIMEC14)
- Working Together (IIMEC13)
- Centres of Excellence for ME (IIMEC12)
- A New Decade of Invest in ME-Research (IIMEC11)
- Agents for Change (IIMEC10)
- Synergising Research into ME (IIMEC9)
- Mainstreaming ME Research (IIMEC8)
- Autoimmunity and ME (IIMEC7)
- The Way Forward for ME (IIMEC6)
- A New Era in ME/CFS Research (IIMEC5)
- Sub-Grouping and Treatments for ME/CFS (IIMEC4)
- Clinical Diagnosis, Research Trends & Educational Support (IIMEC3)
- Building a Future for Research into ME (IIMEC2)
- Initiating ME Research (IIMEC1)
Thinking the Future for ME
- an international Network for Young ME Researchers
The Thinking the Future conferences were research meetings organised by the charity to encourage
biomedical research into ME and international collaboration amongst young and early career researchers.
This was been a major objective of the charity.
An international family of researchers working together has been facilitated by the Invest in ME Research
BRMEC* Biomedical Research
into ME Colloquiums held annually in London, UK.
To ensure that a foundation of biomedical research into ME can be sustained and to encourage
new ideas from new areas then we cannot rely just on this family of researchers that has been built up
from all parts of the world.
We need to draw in knowledge and expertise from other areas – as we have been doing for many years with our
research Colloquiums and international Conferences.
Importantly, we also need to encourage early career researchers – and young researchers.
As part of the EMERG (European ME Research Group) concept - which aims to build a network of close European biomedical research collaboration to make rapid advances in research and funding for ME.
The establishment of the Thinking the Future for ME - Young/ECR Researcher network and conference began
as an idea in 2018 with a conference held in London.
The USA National Institutes of Health (NIH) worked with IiMER to facilitate this international network and
in 2019 conferences were held in both London and in Washington. The NIH
even provided funding for twenty young USA
researchers to come to London for TtF2019.
This has developed into the formation of Young EMERG - the
European ME Research Group for Early Career Researchers
The charity has not forgotten the need for advocacy and regularly comments and acts on issues affecting ME.
The following documents are recent statements from the charity on major issues.
Some of the issues relating to the UK parliamentary debate on 24th January 2019
and a one page summary of recommendations
A status of ME document produced by the charity for the parliamentary meeting in 2018 that led up to the 2019 parliamentary debate in UK
Comments on NICE guidelines reviews and previous correspondence between the charity
and directors of NICE guidelines development
An Executive Summary for MPs and Others - - has been produced which describes the Centre of Excellence proposal and development status.
In the recent UK parliamentary debate on ME, Invest in ME Research produced a document which summarised the status of ME.
It also laid out a bold vision for research - proposing that £20 million be allocated every year for five years to kick-start
biomedical research and support the foundations that this small charity has laid.
Other topics -
Debate January 2019
Status of ME 2018
NICE Commentary
Executive Summary
The charity has also engaged with the Chief Medical Officers of the UK, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the Department of Health, ministers and politicians, the Medical Research Council (MRH), the NHS, and the APPG group in parliament.
Read More
Donating money is just a part of philanthropy.
Philanthropy is about 'giving' - not just in monetary terms but also in non-monetary aspects, like time, ideas, raising awareness of what the charity is trying to do,
or being a volunteer.
Our supporters deserve recognition for all their support and efforts to bring change to the landscape of ME research and perception and we are justifiably proud of what our supporters have achieved.
Due to imaginative and positive support such as the Let’s Do It for ME campaign and thanks to dedicated supporters the charity preparing for the post-pandemic period with good foundations for progress based on the efforts of patients, carers and their families who have supported us since 2005.
In order to bring the best research to bear on ME and make progress in clinical expertise, education and development of treatments
we welcome all support for our work.
Click here for ways to help - fund.shtml
International ME Conferences and Colloquiums Since 2006
Our Past Conference Events
This web site has details of all of the previous Invest in ME Research International ME Conferences that the charity has arranged and hosted since 2006. The presenters at the conferences represent the world's most current knowledgebase regarding ME/CFS. The conferences provide the latest research and clinical information about ME and allows for the creation or resumption of unique networking opportunities with some of the most knowledgeable and experienced authorities on ME in the world.
Read more
Videos from past conferences
We have videos from all presentations in all conferences available. These are not just educational but contain a historical record of research progress over the years. The education of healthcare staff must reflect the latest knowledge about the pathogenesis of ME which high quality biomedical research is providing. The presenters at the CPD-accredited Invest in ME Research International ME Conferences have represented the world's most current knowledgebase regarding this disease - providing the latest research and clinical information about ME and a unique location for networking with some of the most knowledgeable and experienced authorities on ME in the world. These videos provide useful information for researchers, clinicians and patients as well as providing a historical record of research into ME.
Read more
Our Past Colloquiums
The Invest in ME Research Biomedical Research into ME (BRMEC) Colloquiums are closed research meetings organised by the charity to encourage biomedical research into ME and international collaboration amongst researchers. This has been one of the main objectives of the charity. Invest in ME Research began arranging public biomedical research conferences in 2006 and have continued them ever since - mostly funded by the charity but with help from some wonderful supporters and some good friends. The Invest in ME Research International Biomedical Research into ME Colloquiums began in 2011 as a way of bringing together researchers from around the world in a round-table discussion of ME research and ideas. Over the years this has broadened into sharing of experiences, data and plans for future research and international collaboration. A culmination of much of this effort was the initiation of The European ME Research Group (EMERG) concept which formed in October 2015 in London in an attempt to set up a strategy of European collaboration in ME research.
Read more
Young Researchers
The Thinking the Future conferences were research meetings organised by the charity to encourage biomedical research
into ME and international collaboration amongst young and early career researchers.
Read more
This has been a major objective of the charity.
An
international family of researchers working together has been facilitated by the Invest in ME
Research BRMEC* Biomedical Research into ME Colloquiums held annually in London, UK. To ensure that a foundation
of biomedical research into ME can be sustained and to encourage new ideas from new areas then we cannot rely just on
this family of researchers that has been built up from all parts of the world.
We need to
draw in knowledge and expertise from other areas – as we have been doing for many years with our research Colloquiums and international Conferences. Importantly, we also need to encourage early career researchers
– and young researchers.
Following the pandemic, in 2023 the charity restarted the young/ecr European network - Young EMERG.
Young EMERG is now an entity that can help attract more young researchers into research into ME and assist in building capacity in the field. YE will also foster European and international collaboration and create new idea and awareness - all objectives of IiMER.
Our Conference Journals
Our Conference Journals
For each conference we produce an edition of the Journal of IiMER.
Containing news, articles and conference presentation abstracts.
Comments about Invest in ME Research Conferences
Just wanted to congratulate you on an excellent conference last week. It was great to see so many of the leading researchers into ME all in one room, and all pulling in the same direction.
- DelegateI really believe all this is due to the amazing job you have been doing through the years building up this network of research excellence connected to ME patients. It is said that if a boat is not pushed it will never advance… You are definitively the best motor the ME boat could have found. Also, without patient participation, researchers can do nothing. ( From BRMEC6 researcher delegate)
Thank you for again making this conference available for ordinary patients at such a reasonable price. The conference was extraordinary and brought hope to me and my family. Thank you for all you are doing.
- DelegateFantastic conference, many thanks for your hard work. I thought it was fantastic, massively informative, encouraging, inspiring, necessary. It was very powerful hearing so much material from the doctors, researchers and speakers themselves, very, very impressive.
- DelegateI enjoyed it all - especially being given ideas that may be able to use in practice and to be given ideas for where to look for future research to keep updated in CFS/ME practice. I have been able to gain a better understanding of CFS/ME and diagnostic criteria and changes to it. It is also very useful to be aware of research that is going on and how practices differ in UK to USA.
- From Conference feedback form (from NHS professional)Thank you for a wonderfully organized conference! The yearly IiME conferences have become the most important events in Europe, with the best speakers and with focus on subjects that really matters in the battle that we are all fighting.
- DelegateThe diverse background of speakers pulling together novel research reflecting similar pathological phenotypes in chronic fatigue with numerous underlying genotypes and infections
- DelegateIt was a professional and superbly run Conference.
- DelegateThis really was the best conference yet ---- WELL DONE indeed to you. Every aspect of the conference works so well and the conference is beginning to get a family feel about it giving some of us the one and only chance each year to meet up.
- DelegateOpened new lines for looking at literature references, in order to enhance research on CFS/ME.
- DelegateCongratulations on holding such an excellent conference on ME/CFS.
- Doctor
This was the first time I actually attended such a conference. I was very impressed.It is encouraging to see how much research is taking place and how many great medical professionals are making towards diagnosis and more recognition. Having relatives with ME feels much like a solitary experience and it is good to come to an event where there are people who are experiencing the same thing.
- Delegate
Very good organisation of the event, wide variety of speakers and materials.You are doing incredible work. The whole event was absolutely brilliant.
- DelegateYou are certainly running things efficiently and well and are to be congratulated on arranging and managing this excellent conference!
- Delegatethe conference was extremely well attended - in terms of feedback it was re-assuring to hear that the academics are making clearer connections and encouraging the clinicians to think about the implications of these variables when treating patients.
SIIMEC4 clinician delegate
As voiced by many on the day, it seems a shame that the desperately needed tests and measures to confirm possible onset are not readily available and possibly the reason why there still remains a very" them and us" culture in the UK. The breaks and the opportunity to discuss patients individual experiences was also invaluable- I even came away with details of tried and tested interventions, which I will definitely pass on to my patients.
SIIMEC4 clinician delegate
<Just wanted to congratulate you on an excellent conference last week. It was great to see so many of the leading researchers into ME all in one room, and all pulling in the same direction.
- DelegateWe would like to convey our sincerest gratitude to Invest in ME for organising such a fantastic conference. Without people like you, we and many, many others would be lost. Thank you for caring and for wanting to make a difference in the lives of suffering people. You all deserve a medal!.
JIIMEC3 delegate
Fantastic! The best ME conference I have been to and thanks to Invest in ME for making the price so realistic for pwme. I learned so much from this day. Keep up the good work.
HIIMEC3 delegate
To all at IiME Thank you so much for another fantastic conference. It was a joy and a relief to be able to listen to people who are starting to understand the biomedical complexities of this condition. Some extremely interesting speakers this year. We have to keep pushing and pushing. It goes without saying that your hard work is greatly appreciated.
RIIMEC3 delegate
Dr. Gibson spoke openly with regards to the inquiry into M.E. I hope that his report will reflect the true biomedical nature of M.E. Finally, may I say “Thank you” to the team members who were in charge of ordering, packaging and posting the DVD parcels. This must have been a mammoth task in itself!.
DoctorIIMEC1 delegate
Having watched the DVD I am so glad that there are still medical, charity and research professionals who are genuinely committed to helping ill patients. It is so refreshing to learn that doctors such as Bruce Carruthers and Byron Hyde still exist in our modern “evidence based” medical world. These doctors believe in listening to their patients and investigating their symptoms. They do not write patients off.
PatientIIMEC1 participant
Thank goodness for researchers such as Professor Hooper, Professor Puri and Dr. Kerr who have had the strength of character to persevere and continue to research M.E, an illness which has been denigrated by so many other researchers.
PatientIIMEC1 participant
Dear IiME, Thank you all for the hard work that went into making the ME Conference 2006 such a success. It was a huge undertaking and I am just so pleased that it was a success. I have just finished watching the conference on DVD for the second time and it was just like being part of the audience. The DVD recording equally professional.
PatientIIMEC1 participant
The ME experts were excellent and able to speak to their audience in an informative and enjoyable manner. What struck me most about all the speakers was their genuine commitment to their patients, research or charity work. Although all working in slightly different areas, they all share one common bond…..working towards finding the cause and cure for M.E.
PatientIIMEC1 participant
I watched the ME Conference DVD at the weekend. I have to confess that I cried all through the first DVD. Living with ME, you get so used to putting up with ignorance and misunderstanding, and so to hear a group of people gathered together in one room talking about ME sensibly, was just totally overwhelming. I can't thank you and everybody else enough for organising this event and for all the other work that you do.
ABIIMEC1 delegate
Thank you for again making this conference available for ordinary patients at such a reasonable price. The conference was extraordinary and brought hope to me and my family. Thank you for all you are doing.
- DelegateFantastic conference, many thanks for your hard work. I thought it was fantastic, massively informative, encouraging, inspiring, necessary. It was very powerful hearing so much material from the doctors, researchers and speakers themselves, very, very impressive.
- DelegateI enjoyed it all - especially being given ideas that may be able to use in practice and to be given ideas for where to look for future research to keep updated in CFS/ME practice. I have been able to gain a better understanding of CFS/ME and diagnostic criteria and changes to it. It is also very useful to be aware of research that is going on and how practices differ in UK to USA.
- From Conference feedback form (from NHS professional)Thank you for a wonderfully organized conference! The yearly IiME conferences have become the most important events in Europe, with the best speakers and with focus on subjects that really matters in the battle that we are all fighting.
- DelegateThank you for again making this conference available for ordinary patients at such a reasonable price. The conference was extraordinary and brought hope to me and my family. Thank you for all you are doing.
- DelegateFantastic conference, many thanks for your hard work. I thought it was fantastic, massively informative, encouraging, inspiring, necessary. It was very powerful hearing so much material from the doctors, researchers and speakers themselves, very, very impressive.
- DelegateThank you for a wonderfully organized conference! The yearly IiME conferences have become the most important events in Europe, with the best speakers and with focus on subjects that really matters in the battle that we are all fighting.
- DelegateThe diverse background of speakers pulling together novel research reflecting similar pathological phenotypes in chronic fatigue with numerous underlying genotypes and infections
- DelegateIt was a professional and superbly run Conference.
- DelegateThis really was the best conference yet ---- WELL DONE indeed to you. Every aspect of the conference works so well and the conference is beginning to get a family feel about it giving some of us the one and only chance each year to meet up.
- DelegateOpened new lines for looking at literature references, in order to enhance research on CFS/ME.
- DelegateCongratulations on holding such an excellent conference on ME/CFS.
- Doctor
This was the first time I actually attended such a conference. I was very impressed.It is encouraging to see how much research is taking place and how many great medical professionals are making towards diagnosis and more recognition. Having relatives with ME feels much like a solitary experience and it is good to come to an event where there are people who are experiencing the same thing.
- Delegate
Very good organisation of the event, wide variety of speakers and materials.You are doing incredible work. The whole event was absolutely brilliant.
- DelegateYou are certainly running things efficiently and well and are to be congratulated on arranging and managing this excellent conference!
- DelegateAn amazing achievement to produce all of these presentations of the conference. I found it so informative and you have performed an incredible task in doing all of this.
PatientIIMEC1 delegate
I thoroughly enjoyed the conference and learnt a great deal, as well as brushing up my rather rusty immunology! I thought that the standard of the presentations was extremely high across the board, and covered a band of relevant and applicable topics; I shall certainly be attending next year’s conference if at all possible.
PatientIIMEC1 participant
The content is rivetting..especially being a physio/ mum of ME child, regarding the evidence behind exercise.
Professional/CarerIIMEC1 participant
Thank you so much for the wonderful Conference last Friday. I came away feeling more positive about the future for people with ME (my two children aged 17 and 13 have been diagnosed with it) than I have since they became ill.
GillIIMEC1 delegate
I attended the conference last Friday and had a great time – I enjoyed the event a great deal and felt that it was a huge success – you should be very pleased.' 'Many thanks for your help and many congratulations again on an excellent event.
DaveIIMEC1 delegate
The conference was so fantastic. I now feel fully armed to battle in ignorance about this disease in Denmark. How can any doctor look at the facts and doubt it is a physical disease. And yet...there was a least one doctor there who still was a Wessley-schooler. On the second day, I sat next to this man and when I told him I had ME/CFS he told me to try deep breathing techniques and asked me if I was a person who had a lot of self-doubt...... so...you can lead a fool to facts, but you can't make them think! Thanks again for all the effort that went into this conference.
RIIMEC2 delegate
I found the conference to be quite a revelation. I had no idea how bad the political situation is with ME. It has galvanised me into action, with writing to my MP and a comprehensive and vigorous defence of Dr Myhill. And I'm going to the Edinburgh Conference too. Thank you so much for the enormous undertaking you have embarked on. I shall be doing all I can to support you all.
NIIMEC2 delegate
I was delighted to see in attendance also my consultant and two of his staff which I think was vital for him to gain a better understanding about severe ME. I was especially pleased of the video that was shown really showing severe ME as this I think gave a very moving account of what it was to be in that position and would of had a huge impact on those watching it. Once again thanks for an exciting conference with excellent speakers. I shall look forward to the DVD.
TIIMEC4 delegate
Thank you SO MUCH for all your great work. And we are so glad you are doing the conference DVD's again this year, last years were a great resource of info and encouraging. I've just downloaded your first journal and will read it, slowly!!, with great interest. Will also tell others of the journal and the conference DVD's in the hope that they will buy them too.
SIIMEC2 delegate
I thought it was a great conference. I met many new people, but I also missed seeing many of those involved in the new CFS/ME services.
NIIMEC2 delegate
Many thanks for the wonderful conference. It was a great atmosphere and very uplifting to know of the wonderful work and people involved in helping us ME Sufferers. Back you all the way, and hope you will all recover soon from the tremendous effort you put in on our behalf and those of the researchers. It was a conference of excellence and it honoured us as well as raising us up!
JIIMEC2 delegate
Congratulations on your second successful ME/CFS Conference. I am so pleased that there will be a DVD of the conference. I am looking forward to watching it and finding out about the latest scientific research and facts on ME. I have just downloaded the first IiME Journal. It is very informative and professionally presented. I would like to say, "Thank you IiME," for all your hard work.
CIIMEC2 delegate
Dear Invest in ME Just wanted to congratulate you on an excellent conference last week. It was great to see so many of the leading researchers into ME all in one room, and all pulling in the same direction. So thank you for all your efforts in making the conference happen, it's very much appreciated.
CIIMEC2 delegate
Thank you so much to make that big event come true. I have a slight idea how much you worked to get the conference to such a success, to organise everything so perfectly and to bring together so many scientists and practitioners to tell us about their work and their progress in research and treatment.
RIIMEC2 delegate
I'm sure this event will bring us together more closely, and only as an international community we will be strong enough to change things for the better. So I'm sure that not only those who were so lucky to attend the conference are very grateful to you but all the hundreds of patients who were not able to come but will profit from its results.
RIIMEC2 delegate
Those were two great days full of extraordinary lectures, positive information and so many important contacts! I profited so much, I learned so much, I've met so many people I haven't met before - including you -, all this was so impressive. It will take me some weeks to process all the information I got which I will pass it on to the German spoken CFS/ME community. Thank you from Germany
RIIMEC2 delegate
Congratulations to everyone involved for a very successful Conference last week. Both days were interesting, fascinating, useful, well run and uplifting.....Thank you very very very much to everyone for all the work you are doing for people with M.E.
PIIMEC2 delegate
Just saw on your website that you did get a DVD done in the end - my massive thanks to everyone, there's a whole load of people out there who appreciate the work you're doing!
MIIMEC2 delegate
"Thank you to the organisers and speakers for a very interesting and stimulating meeting."
BIIMEC2 delegate
"Just wanted to say thanks for organising a conference with such impressive speakers & at such reasonable cost. As a humble parent, most conferences are completely out of my price range, so was really delighted to be able to attend. I picked up lots of info & have realised that I need to do loads more h/w to really be on top of all the stuff that’s been discovered since my daughter first became ill – 10 yrs ago."
HIIMEC2 delegate
"Congratulations on the Conference, it was very well organised with some excellent speakers. I was very pleased to see a number of our local CFS team present at the conference
AIIMEC2 delegate
"I am interested in the DVD & thank you all again for a great conference"
PIIMEC2 delegate
I enjoyed participating enormously and think the whole conference was a great success. Well done!
Dr NIIMEC2 delegate
"You are certainly running things efficiently and well and are to be congratulated on arranging and managing this second excellent conference! I am only just recovering from the efforts of attending the 2 day event and was about to send you a note of thanks for all your efforts and succeeding in facilitating a truly remarkable conference. It was great to see so many familiar faces, both amongst the audience and the presenters, and as you rightly say, the information conveyed was amazing and exciting. H aving said that - so much was known sooooo many years ago already! -
DIIMEC2 delegate
Perhaps two of the most important new developments were those reported by Ellen Piro on what has happened in Norway, and the new Clinic in Nevada reported on by Annette Whittemore and Daniel Peterson - they are very lucky in both instances! Thank you all again for all your hard work and all the trouble you have gone to in organizing, arranging and managing this remarkable event. Such conferences should have been arranged by the major UK ME/CFS charities long ago - Byron Hyde arranged the 1990 Cambridge event.
DIIMEC2 delegate
"I have come back home determined to help your cause. I am working on a plan to get the Local Press interested in doing a big piece on M.E. in our paper which is read by a very high percentage of people living in Guernsey - hopefully during May. My idea at the moment is to say that I have attended the Conference in London and have come back inspired and elaborate on what you have achieved.
JIIMEC2 delegate
You are a Great Team and deserve to be encouraged in every way possible. You are doing such a fantastic job. Oh boy, do these poor patients need encouragement!!!!! I happen to be one of the lucky ones and that is why I am happy to join in to help fight for those far less fortunate and with little support."
JIIMEC2 delegate
Fantastic conference, many thanks for your hard work. I thought it was fantastic, massively informative, encouraging, inspiring, necessary. It was very powerful hearing so much material from the doctors, researchers and speakers themselves, very, very impressive. I do agree that the speakers all came across as deeply humane. As a patient there was an enormous amount of useful applicable material and info on research hot from the lab so to speak.
NIIMEC2 delegate
Thanks for enquiring if I was OK, was only disorientated due to multiprocessing mayhem, which is worst symptom. A very good venue too, I noticed others remarked on what a pleasant environment, the term 'the organisers did us proud' came to mind. I've been thinking about it all day, as these are serious times requiring strategies. Thanks again, it was brilliant, you must be knackered. A brilliant effort, weight in gold.
NIIMEC2 delegate
"Just to say well done for once again organising such a great conference with brilliant, knowledgeable and dedicated speakers! We are moving forward!!"
LIIMEC2 delegate
To all the wonderful people who helped organising the ME Conference in May 2007!! Just a short note to say Thank you very much for all the hours that you must have spend to give us the opportunity to attend the Conference.
PIIMEC2 delegate
The conference was excellent!
JIIMEC3 delegate
The conference was great and it was really a good feeling to be among others who are working for the same aim. It was also great to see and to hear all these medical researchers who are able to explain at least a good part of this illness and to have the occasion to speak to them.
MIIMEC3 delegate
Well done for yet another excellent conference, keep up the good work.
JIIMEC2 delegate
I attended the second day - an excellent conference - many thanks.
MIIMEC2 delegate
It was a great pleasure to met up with you all again in London this week and congratulations must once more be extended on your terrific organisational talents in getting the job done. As well as the huge flow of information gained from the lectures (OK - some of it went over our heads), WE found it very beneficial to be able to meet with the important players in the ME world, those we were already acquainted with and some we weren't.
DIIMEC2 delegate
Hello To all the hard workers who made this conference come to fruition, you did a splendid job, and you so were so very kind to me, and that means so much to a ME sufferer, when back in my own environment you are looked on as a malinger, and probably have psychological problems. Well, I shall battle on undaunted spreading words and literature the best I can. A big thank you to all of you.
SIIMEC2 delegate
You organised the most impressive conference. I learnt so much and am very grateful to you.
IIMEC4 delegate
Thanks once again for such a wonderful Conference in London, the best I´ve ever seen.
JIIMEC4 delegate
Thank you for a great day in London, the 29 of May. It was an interesting conference.
IIIMEC4 delegate
Thank you for a really excellent conference. I particularly found Dr Nicolson's presentation helpful to bring all the strands together.
RIIMEC4 delegate
I would just like to thank you for putting on a wonderful conference full of excellent speakers and a wealth of information regarding severe ME. I consider myself to be one of those severe sufferers that you were highlighting this year and I also have a fiancee at home who also has severe ME for the last 20 years, so I am grateful to Invest in ME for bringing it to the attention of a wider audience.
TIIMEC4 delegate
Thank you for a wonderfully organized conference! The yearly IiME conferences have become the most important events in Europe, with the best speakers and with focus on subjects that really matters in the battle that we are all fighting.
EIIMEC4 delegate
the conference was top !!!.
AIIMEC4 delegate
Thank you for your excellent organization of the conference and for looking after me while juggling a thousand other details.
MIIMEC4 delegate
an excellent meeting
DelegateBRMEC6/IIMEC11
It was a wonderful series of meetings
DelegateBRMEC6/IIMEC11
The conference was fabulous.
DelegateIIMEC11
Am still reeling from such a wonderful conference and colloquium
DelegateBRMEC6/IIMEC11
.. terrific meeting. It gets better year by year
DelegateBRMEC6/IIMEC11
Thanks again to you for organizing this important meeting. I think that there are going to be more far-reaching effects than before
DelegateBRMEC6/IIMEC11
Thank you very much for all your efforts for the success of this event.
DelegateBRMEC6/IIMEC11
..enjoyed the conference and I look forward to reporting exciting progress with our collaboration...
DelegateBRMEC6/IIMEC11
thank you, once more, for the excellent organization of BRMEC6 and IIMEC11. ... just amazed of the good care you have taken in every single detail so that absolutely all would come up perfect. This year I specially felt researchers connected and ready to advance faster by collaborating. Also, I felt ME patients are much more encouraged. I really believe all this is due to the amazing job you have been doing through the years building up this network of research excellence connected to ME patients.
DelegateBRMEC6/IIMEC11
the conference was excellent.
DelegateIIMEC11
thanks for another great conference, I hope you know your considerable efforts are appreciated by a lot of patients, who are unable to respond effectively.
DelegateIIMEC11
Thank you for a wonderful conference in London last week!
DelegateIIMEC11
thank you for a wonderful colloquium and conference. The research is getting so exciting! You must have worked so hard to get it all together.
DelegateBRMEC7/IIMEC12
wanted to thank you as well for another excellent conference
DelegateBRMEC7/IIMEC12
I was extremely impressed by the colloquium/conference and by the obvious extensive work you put down! This disease is so devastating.
DelegateBRMEC7/IIMEC12
It is always an honor to be able to participate and present at the top CFS ME meeting in the world
DelegateBRMEC7/IIMEC12
Thank you once again for your superb organization of the IIMER events – I had such a great time and was grateful to participate.
DelegateBRMEC7/IIMEC12
Thanks for another wonderful ME colloquium and conference. Everyone thought it was all the best ever.
DelegateBRMEC7/IIMEC12
I just wanted to say how much we enjoyed the conference and learnt so much from the participants
DelegateIIMEC12
Thank you so much for a very interesting colloquium and conference! I learnt a lot and met many dedicated people.
DelegateIIMEC12
Thank you for an excellent conference.
DelegateBRMEC7/IIMEC12
it was my honor to join all of you at the conference, and I am so excited by the progress in the last year.
DelegateBRMEC7/IIMEC12
You and all of your volunteers are to be commended for what you have done to move the research forward
DelegateBRMEC7/IIMEC12
The conference was incredible and one can't help listening to the presentations that the next few years are going to bring so many new and impactful discoveries.
DelegateBRMEC7/IIMEC12
Amazing meeting.
DelegateBRMEC7
I send you and your team my heartfelt thanks for the last two days.
DelegateIIMEC12
I would like to thank you for the great meeting!
DelegateBRMEC7
Thanks for a very interesting conference!
DelegateIIMEC12
Thanks for a very interesting conference!
DelegateIIMEC12
I will definitely come next year.
Thank you for all you are doing to enhance research into this terrible disease.DelegateIIMEC12
An excellent conference with amazing insights to the research being undertaken in ME.
DelegateIIMEC12
I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity and found it very useful.
DelegateBRMEC8/IIMEC13
Thoroughly enjoyed it.
The best ME/CFS meeting I have been to by a long way. Some real science now coming out of this field.DelegateBRMEC8
I think your meetings are the best opportunity for networking outside the US.
DelegateBRMEC8/IIMEC13
I want to thank you for organizing this fantastic conference, every year. It is very helpful and contributes to clarify more about ME, not just by sharing researche performed in different countries but also the conversations had with ill people, relatives and carers during breaks. Lunch time gives clinical doctors, a lot of information to understand our day in and out with our ME patients in our clinics.
DelegateIIMEC13
Thank you also for the post conference dinner, I met with a lot of people, we shared experiences and finally we all learned and felt less lonely, with hope to change things, and I could share emails and phone numbers with other doctors and patients to keep in touch.
DelegateIIMEC13
Thank you very much to you and all the trustees for another excellent conference
DelegateIIMEC13
I really would like to thank you for inviting me at the Colloquium/Conference. It was a great experience to be part of such an amazing group. The work you are doing for the community is beyond words.
DelegateBRMEC8/IIMEC13
still taking in all the knowledge we gained in London. My sincere thanks to you for staging an important event
DelegateBRMEC8/IIMEC13
thank you, for the geat effort you put every year into this wonderful meeting
DelegateBRMEC8
Thank you for inviting me to this excellent meeting, this year was for me the most interesting so far.
ResearcherBRMEC5/IIMEC10 delegate
Very inspiring as usual.
ResearcherBRMEC5/IIMEC10 participant
Congratulations for organizing such an outstanding conference! I learned a great deal
ResearcherBRMEC5/IIMEC10 participant
Another well-done conference series!
ResearcherBRMEC5/IIMEC10 delegate
Thank you so much for the invitation to attend the conferences last week. They were both very well organized and the quality was fantastic.
ResearcherBRMEC5/IIMEC10 delegate
Thank you for a wonderful meeting in London last week. I hope you know how much we appreciate being a part of this "familiy". And yes - I agree that we are on our way to real and convincing progress.
ResearcherBRMEC5/IIMEC10 partiicpant
Thank you for a fantastic conference. A very special feeling when you sit in the auditorium filled with engaged interested ME persons - so great and important that you can travel back to your (own) country and feel that after all it DOES matter what we all do in our daily ME-work.
Patient Group RepresentativeIIMEC10 delegate
I wanted to thank you for another wonderful conference
Patient CarerIIMEC10 delegate
It’s always an inspiration to meet in London. We will be back next year.
DelegateIIMEC13
Thank you for organising such a wonderful colloquium and conference in London and for giving me the opportunity to attend. It was extremely interesting and great to hear about all of the research that is being undertaken in ME.
DelegateBRMEC8/IIMEC13
Just wanted to say well done on another great conference. It was my second year of attending and it’s such an informative and uplifting experience as a patient. So positive to know that there are such talented scientists who care enough to be working hard to figure it all out.
Invest in ME Research do such a great job getting everyone together and long may that continue because boy do we need you.DelegateIIMEC13
thank you so much for a very interesting and meaningful week in London
DelegateBRMEC8/IIMEC13
An Overview of IiMER Conferences
Dr Ian Gibson
Former Dean of Biological Sciences, UEA
Dr Ian Gibson, former Labour MP for Norwich North, worked at University of East Anglia for 32 years, became Dean of the school
of biological sciences in 1991 and was head of a cancer research team and set up the Francesca Gunn Leukaemia Laboratory at UEA.
In 2011 Dr Gibson received an honorary doctorate of civil law from UEA.
Other Links
Dr Bruce Carruthers
Former Dean of Biological Sciences, UEA
Dr Bruce Carruthers graduated from Kodaikanal International School in India before moving to Canada to study at his father’s alma mater,
Queen’s University, Ontario. His excellence was quickly recognized when he graduated in medicine as a dual gold medalist in Surgery, and Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Following an internship at the Charity Hospital in New Orleans and a residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania as a
Research Fellow of the American Diabetes Association,
Dr. Carruthers settled with his family in Vancouver.
He earned a Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada with the specialty of Internal Medicine.
For many years Dr. Carruthers was an Assistant Professor and a Medical Research Council of Canada Scholar,
lecturing and carrying out research in diabetes and metabolic disorders in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia.
From 1978 until his retirement, Dr. Carruthers had a private practice as a Consultant in Internal Medicine, with focus on diabetes and metabolic
disorders and later, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME).
His compassionate nature and adept care improved the quality of life of his patients.
Throughout his outstanding medical career, which spanned more than fifty years, Dr. Carruthers treated more patients inflicted with ME
than any other doctor in Canada.
Other Links
Professor Malcolm Hooper
Professor Hooper graduated from University of London and had held appointments at Sunderland Technical College, Sunderland Polytechnic and the University of Sunderland,
where he was made Emeritus Professor of Medicinal Chemistry in 1993.
He has served at many UK universities as well as in India and Tanzania.
He has inaugurated links with Indian research institutions and universities and celebrated 25 years of productive
and on-going links which have,
particularly, involved the design and development of new drugs for tropical diseases and an exploration of natural
products associated with Ayurvedic medicine.
He has published some 50 papers in peer-reviewed journals in the field of medicinal chemistry together with major
reviews on the Chemotherapy of Leprosy,
the Chemistry of Isatogens. Edited one book on the Chemotherapy of Tropical Diseases.
He acted as a referee for a number of important journals and
served on one editorial board. He has served on committees of the Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA), the
World Health Organisation
(WHO) and the Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC).
Emeritus Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Sunderland
Professor Hooper is a member of a number of learned bodies, including
the Royal Chemical Society, the British Pharmacological Society and the Society for Drug Research (SDR),
now renamed the Society for
Medicines Research, where he has served on the committee for 12 years and served as Chairman for 2 years.
This involved the planning
and organising of major national and international conferences. He was appointed Chief Scientific Advisor to the
Gulf Veterans Association (GVA)
and accepted by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) as their nominee on the Independent Panel established to consider
the possible interactions between
Vaccines and NAPS tablets.
He has also served on the Gulf Support Group convened at the Royal British Legion. His involvement with the GVA brought
contact with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalegic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/M.E.) and related disorders. Gulf War Illness/Syndrome
(GWI/S) has much in common
with M.E./CFS.
He is Patron of the Sunderland and South Shields M.E. Association and a member of the Newcastle Research Group,
which includes eminent
physicians and scientists performing research in to CFS/M.E., where one recent aspect has been the identification of
organochlorine pesticide poisoning
being misdiagnosed as M.E./CFS. He has addressed meetings of the Pesticide Exchange Network and consulted to the
Organo-Phosphate Information Network (OPIN).
He worked with the Autism Research Unit (ARU) at the University of Sunderland for over 20 years, leading to involvement
in biochemical studies to offer help, support and treatment for people with autism. This has also lead to research and
urine-analysis of Indolyl-Acroyl-Glycine (IAG), which is an unusual metabolite found in excess of 90% of people
examined in different groups of GWV, M.E./CFS and Organo-Phosphate (OP) poisoning sufferers. He served on the
General Synod of the Church of England from 1970 to 1980 and he is a Christian Lay Leader, Preacher and Teacher.
He is currently involved in three environmental campaigns: Toxic waste dumping, including campaign against sewage in
the sea presenting to the Select Committee on
Sewage Treatment and Disposal GWI/S, presenting to the Defence Select Committee M.E./CFS and OP/Pesticide poisoning
Professor Simon Carding
Research Leader, Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich Research Park, UK
Upon completing postgraduate work at the Medical Research Council’s Clinical Research Centre in Harrow,
Professor Carding “emigrated” to the USA to take up a postdoctoral position at New York University School of Medicine,
and then at Yale University as a Howard Hughes Fellow in the Immunobiology Group at Yale University with Profs Kim Bottomly and Charlie Janeway Jr.
While
at Yale an interest in gamma-delta (γδ) T cells was acquired working closely with Adrian Hayday on molecular genetics and then
with Prof. Peter Doherty to establish their role in (viral) infectious disease.
He left Yale after five years to take up a faculty position at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia where he
developed a research interest in mucosal and GI-tract immunology, performing studies in germfree mice with Prof John Cebra that helped establish
the role of gut microbes in the aetiology of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
After 15 years in the USA, he returned to the UK to take up the Chair in Molecular Immunology at the University of Leeds where he established a new research
programme on commensal gut bacteria and Bacteroides genetics leading to the development of a Bacteroides drug delivery platform that is being used
for developing new interventions for IBD and for mucosal vaccination.
In 2008 he was recruited by UEA and IFR to develop a gut research programme, taking up the Chair of Mucosal Immunology at UEA-MED and the position of head
of the Gut Biology Research Programme at IFR, which later became part of the Gut Health and Food Safety (GHFS) Programme.
GHFS research covers a broad area of gut biology including epithelial cell physiology, mucus and glycobiology, mucosal immunology,
commensal microbiology, foodborne bacterial pathogens, and mathematical modelling and bioinformatics.
The success of this programme has led to the establishment of the Gut Microbes and Health research programme
that is integral to the research agenda of The Quadram Institute.
Other Links
Professor Angela Vincent
Emeritus Professor of Neuroimmunology, University of Oxford
Professor Vincent is Emeritus Professor of Neuroimmunology at the University of Oxford, and an Emeritus Fellow of Somerville College. She holds an Honorary Consultant position in Immunology and runs the Clinical Neuroimmunology service which is an international referral centre for the measurement of antibodies in neurological diseases.
Together with colleagues she collaborates with neurologists worldwide. She was formerly Head of Department of Clinical Neurology (2005-2008), and is a Past President of the International Society of Neuroimmunology, and an Associate Editor of Brain.
She was a co-applicant and group leader of OXION, the Wellcome Trust-funded Integrative Physiology Initiative "Ion channels and Diseases of Electrically Excitable Cells". She is a member of Faculty of 1000 (Neuroscience, Neurobiology of Disease and Regeneration)
Her major interest is in the role of autoimmunity in neurological diseases, including multiple sclerosis and auto-antibody mediated ion channel and receptor disorders. Recent advances have included (a) the discovery that maternal antibodies to different fetal proteins can cause rare neuromuscular disorders, and may be involved in some forms of autism or other neurodevelopmental disorders; (b) the definition and characterisation of a new form of myasthenia gravis associated with antibodies to a receptor tyrosine kinase, MuSK, that performs an important maintenance role at the neuromuscular junction; and (c) the recognition that some central nervous system disorders, involving memory loss, seizures, movement disorders, can be caused by antibodies to potassium ion channels and to various receptor proteins.
In these, and several other conditions, new ways are being devised to measure the pathogenic antibodies for better clinical diagnosis, and establishing model in vitro and in vivo systems for investigation of the pathophysiology of the diseases. Her group also works, in collaboration with Profs David Beeson and Nick Willcox, on the genetics of myasthenia and the factors that determine autoimmune responses to the main target, the acetylcholine receptor.
Dr Amir Landi
Research Scientist, Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, University of Alberta, Canada
Dr Landi works at Professor Michael Houghton's laboratory in the Dept. of Medical Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Alberta, Canada. He is a member of the ME/CFS committee of the Alberta Medical Association and Research & Medical Advisor, National ME/FM Action Network, Canada.
Other Links
Professor Jonathan Edwards
Emeritus Professor of Connective Tissue Medicine University College London (UCL)
Professor Jonathan Edwards, of UCL's Department of Medicine, announced a highly original new treatment for rheumatoid arthritis in October 2000. His team has conducted trials of a new combination of drugs on patients who have suffered from rheumatoid arthritis for as long as 20 years; all but two of the 22 patients have so far shown marked improvements in their symptoms of the disease. More information IIMER Rituximab Clinical Trial for ME Professor Edwards has been the charity's advisor. He has played a major part in initiating the IiMER rituximab clinical trial project which IiMER and UCL initiated - click here
Other Links
Associate Professor Mady Hornig
Associate Professor, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, USA
Mady Hornig, MA, MD is a physician-scientist and Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health,. She did her undergraduate studies as a College Scholar at Cornell, received an MA in Psychology from The New School for Social Research and an MD from The Medical College of Pennsylvania and completed her residency in psychiatry at The Medical Center Hospital of Vermont and an NIMH/NRSA Neuropsychopharmacology Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research leverages large epidemiologic cohorts, novel bench science and animal model studies to determine how microbial, immune and toxic exposures impact upon the brain across the life course, resulting in disorders such as autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal infection (PANDAS), mood disorders, schizophrenia, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and age-related cognitive deficits.
Dr. Hornig is internationally known for her work in the growing research arena exploring the mechanisms of gut-immune-brain axis functioning, seeking clues to both the understanding of the roots of dysfunction as well as uncovering pathways that strengthen individual resiliency. She has a keen interest in how diet, exercise and environmental factors affect each individual’s intestinal bacteria – the so-called gut microbiome – which then influences brain function through alterations in blood-borne molecules.
She has identified naturally-occurring substances that appear to strengthen resistance to certain disease states affecting the brain, and is pursuing these as candidates for prevention and intervention in ME/CFS and autism. She uses immune profiling, metabolomic, proteomic, epigenetic and microbiome approaches to identify prenatal and birth biomarkers for brain disorders in large prospective studies in Scandinavia as well as the US. She is also applying these approaches to uncover markers of disturbed immunity and metabolism correlating with the severe clinical deficits that underlie ME/CFS, work launched with support from the Hutchins Family Foundation/Chronic Fatigue Initiative, the National Institutes of Health and the crowd-funding initiative, The Microbe Discovery Project. Perhaps most exciting is that new ME/CFS subsets that appear to have different triggers and may respond differentially to treatment are now being identified through her work.
Dr. Hornig’s approach is enriched by her unusual combination of decades of experience as a clinical researcher, her acumen in defining novel neuropharmacological and nutritional approaches for brain disorders and her ability to carefully tease out factors that enhance resiliency to disease.
In 2004, Dr. Hornig presented to the Institute of Medicine Immunization Safety Review Committee and testified twice before congressional subcommittees regarding the role of infections and toxins in autism pathogenesis and has lectured on ME/CFS throughout the world. She has over 120 peer-reviewed publications, has edited several books, and has received many academic awards. Her work has been featured by the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Discover Magazine, Nature Medicine, Science, Wired, the Huffington Post, O Magazine, CBS News, and This Week in Virology.
She is a member of the President’s Council of Cornell Women, and maintains a strong connection with organizations focused on disabilities, such as The Microbe Discovery Project, #MEAction, #MillionsMissing and The Global Autism Project; the environment, including Riverkeeper and the Collaborative on Health and the Environment; and music, including a close association with Jazz at Lincoln Center as a member of the Chairman’s Circle and a member of Unsettled Scores, a community choir.
Other Links
Dr Jo Cambridge
Principal Research Fellow Inflammation, Div of Medicine Faculty of Medical Sciences, UCL
Her group focuses its interests on B cell depletion (an idea which they introduced (with the Professor Jo Edwards) approximately 10 years ago for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis), exploring more precisely how the technique works and trying to explain the marked variation in response between different patients.
Other Links
Dr Amolak Bansal
Consultant Clinical Immunology and Immunopathology Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust Surrey, UK
Dr. Bansal trained in immunology and allergy from 1989 to 1993 at St. Mary's Hospital in Manchester and at Hope Hospital in Salford. From here he spent five years (1993-1997) as Senior Lecturer and Consultant in Clinical Immunology in the Department of Medicine at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane, Australia. From 1997 to the present date Dr. Bansal has worked as a Consultant in Clinical Immunology and Immunopathology at Epsom and St Helier University Hospital. Dr Bansal's key interests lie in allergy, autoimmunity, CFS/ME and immunodeficiency. Dr Bansal is involved in the gut microbiota study at UEA, the IIMER rituximab clinical trial and Autoimmunity and ME, a study involving the hypothalamus - all projects funded by Invest in ME. Research from Dr Bansal
Other Links
Dr Oystein Fluge
Dr Oystein Fluge
Oystein Fluge received medical degree in 1988 at the University of Bergen, and is a specialist in oncology since 2004. He has worked as a Research Fellow with support from the Norwegian Cancer Society and is now chief physician at the Cancer Department, Haukeland University Hospital. Doctoral work emanates from the Surgical Institute and Department of Molecular Biology, University of Bergen.Other Links
Prof Olav Mella
Professor Olav Mella
Professor Mella has performed clinical trials to test the benefit of B-cell depletion therapy using Rituximab in ME/CFS patients. Dr. Olav Mella of Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, Norway began his investigation of Rituximab’s effects on CFS after treating several Hodgkin’s Lymphoma patients who had long standing cases of CFS prior to developing cancer. Professor Mella and Dr Fluge have published a paper "Benefit from B-Lymphocyte Depletion Using the Anti-CD20 Antibody Rituximab in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. A Double-Blind and Placebo-Controlled Study"Other Links
Dr Claire Hutchinson
Lecturer in the College of Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology at the University of Leicester
Claire Hutchinson is a vision scientist.
The majority of her work is concerned with how visual sensory information is encoded by the human visual system.
Her research includes healthy visual perception, age-related visual decline, and visual markers of 'non-visual' illnesses.
It is this latter strand of research that led her to study vision-related problems in ME/CFS.
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Professor Jonas Bergquist
Full Chair Professor in Analytical Chemistry and Neurochemistry at the Department of Chemistry, Uppsala University, Sweden
Professor Begquist has a background as MD, Associate Professor of Clinical Neuroscience , Sahlgrenska University Hospital and the University of Gothenburg. Since 1999 , he has been a researcher in Uppsala, Sweden, and in 2005 was appointed professor of analytical chemistry and neurochemistry at the Department of Chemistry - BMC , Uppsala University. From 2011 he worked also as an adjunct professor of pathology at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.Other Links
Professor Ian Charles
Director Institute of Food Research, Norwich, UK
Professor Ian Charles joins the Institute of Food Research in May 2015 to lead the programme to develop the UK’s new Centre for Food & Health to be based at the Norwich Research Park. Professor Charles is returning to the UK from Australia where he was Director of the ithree institute, University of Technology, Sydney. Professor Charles has over 30 years’ experience in academic and commercial research. His academic career has included being a founding member of The Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research at University College London, one the UK’s first institutes of translational medicine. He has also worked in the pharmaceutical industry at Glaxo Wellcome, and has been founder and CSO of biotech companies in the area of infectious disease, including Arrow Therapeutics, sold to AstraZeneca, and Auspherix a venture capital backed company founded in 2013. His current research interests include infectious diseases as well as the microbiome and its impact on health and wellbeing. The new Centre for Food & Health will provide a step change for food and health research, and the translation of science by industry, to benefit society and the UK economy. The Centre will be located at the Norwich Research Park, one of Europe’s largest single-site concentrations of research in Food, Health and Environmental sciences. The multidisciplinary Centre aims to bring together the Institute of Food Research and aspects of the University of East Anglia’s Faculty of Science and the Norwich Medical School with the regional gastrointestinal endoscopy facility at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. With a unique integration of diet, health, nutrition and medicine under one roof, linking closely to world class plant and crop research at the John Innes Centre and bioinformatics at The Genome Analysis Centre (both also located on the Norwich Research Park), it will have the potential to deliver clinically validated strategies to improve human health and wellbeing.Other Links
The Next Generation of Researchers
Invest in ME Research Students and Researchers
The Next Generation of Scientists
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- Fane Mensah, UCL [ME/CFS – Through The Eyes of a Young Researcher]
- Navena Navaneetharaja, UEA/IFR
- Bharat Harbham, UEA
- Daniel Vipond, UEA/IFR [UK Gut Microbiota Research Update]
Professor Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik
The National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases (NCNED), Griffiths University, Australia
Professor Marshall-Gradisnik is one of Australia's foremost researchers in the area of neuroimmunology and has been instrumental in establishing the Public Health and Neuroimmunology Unit (PHANU) at Bond University. Much of her work relates specifically to autoimmunity in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome sufferers and she is regularly asked to speak to community groups on behalf of Queensland Health and NSW Health. Her research in the area of exercise immunology has also contributed to the body of knowledge relating to the effect of doping in sport and she serves as Sports Medicine Australia's national spokesperson in this area. The vital research conducted by Professor Marshall has attracted more than $1 million in grant funding and she has produced 21 peer-reviewed papers, five book chapters and one provisional patent. In 2008 Dr Marshall was joint leader of the Bond University team responsible for developing the the BioSMART program. The team was awarded a prestigious Australian Teaching and Learning Council Award (formerly known as the Carrick Award) for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning and for the quality of student learning over a sustained period of time. Professor Marshall-Gradisnik is also leading The National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases (NCNED), a research team situated at Griffith University on the Gold Coast. The team focuses on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.Other Links
Professor Don Staines MBBS MPH FAFPHM FAFOEM
The National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases (NCNED), Griffiths University, Australia
Professor Staines has been a public health physician at Gold Coast Population Health Unit. He has worked in health services management and public health practice in Australia and overseas. His interests include collaborative health initiatives with other countries as well as cross-disciplinary initiatives within health. Communicable diseases as well as post infectious fatigue syndromes are his main research interests. A keen supporter of the Griffith University Medical School, he enjoys teaching and other opportunities to promote awareness of public health in the medical curriculum. He is now Co-Director at The National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases (NCNED), Griffiths University in Australia
Dr John Chia
Infectious Disease Specialist, Torrance, California, USA
Dr Chia is an infectious disease specialist practicing in Torrance, California, USA and has published research recently (Chronic fatigue syndrome associated with chronic enterovirus infection of the stomach) on the role of enteroviruses in the aetiolgy of ME/CFS – an area which has been implicated as one of the triggers by a number of studies.There are more than 70 different types of enteroviruses that can affect the central nervous system, heart and muscles, all of which is consistent with the symptoms of ME/CFS. By analyzing samples of stomach tissue from 165 patients with CFS, Dr. Chia's team discovered that 82% of these individuals had high levels of enteroviruses in their digestive systems. Dr Chia's research may result in the development of antiviral drugs to treat the debilitating symptoms of ME/CFS.
Dr Chia is President of the Enterovirus Foundation and Assistant Professor at the UCLA School of Medicine.
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Dr Neil Harrison
Honorary Consultant Neuropsychiatrist, Brighton & Sussex Medical School, UK
Dr Harrison's' work in the laboratory focuses on understanding how infection or inflammation in the body interacts with the brain.For most these symptoms are usually short lived and relatively mild. However, when the immune system is activated for long periods, such as in people suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, they can become extremely debilitating or even life-threatening.
Understanding how the immune system interacts with the brain is a crucial first step that will form the foundations for future development of novel therapies targeting these common and disabling symptoms.
Most of his studies utilise a combination of functional brain imaging (e.g. fMRI, FDG-PET, EEG, polysomnography), experimental models of inflammation, custom cognitive tasks and diverse measures of peripheral immune status.
Other Links
- Gray matter textural heterogeneity as a potential in-vivo biomarker of fine structural abnormalities in Asperger syndrome. Radulescu, E., Ganeshan, B., Minati, L., Beacher, F.D.C.C., Gray, M.A., Chatwin, C., Young, R.C.D., (...), Critchley, H.D. 2012 Pharmacogenomics Journal (in Press)
Professor Betsy Keller
Ithaca College, USA
Professor Keller is Professor Ithaca College, Dept. of Exercise and Sport Sciences, Ithaca, NY.RESEARCH / CLINICAL FOCUS: Since 2003 Professor Keller has tested persons ill with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) for purposes of research and/or to provide an objective assessment of functional capacity and ability to perform and recover from physical work. Often, these individuals seek an objective indication of illness status to apply for disability benefits. A two-day exercise test protocol has shown to be instrumental in delineating abnormal responses to and recovery from exercise in ME/CFS patients. Her report of test results and interpretation has been successful in many cases to support an argument for disability coverage.
There are only a few researchers in the USA who have performed and interpreted the two-day exercise test protocol on ME/CFS patients, and therefore have observed first-hand the anomalous multisystem responses of these patients 24 hours post-exercise.
Professor Keller continues to expand the small body of peer-reviewed evidence of the abnormal recovery response to physical activity in ME/CFS so that most, if not all clinicians, researchers, health insurers and patient family members also understand the deleterious impact of this illness.
To that end, She has collaborated on an NIH R21 grant with PI, Maureen Hanson, from Cornell University to study the effects of exercise in ME/CFS on parameters of physiological and immune function.
Together they continue to analyze this data and other data collected to better understand how to help those with ME/CFS.
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BRMEC5 Keynote Speaker: Professor David Brooks
Invest in ME are pleased to announce that giving a keynote speech at BMEC5 will be Professor David Brooks from Imperial College, London. Professor Brooks is Hartnett Professor of Neurology in the Department of Medicine.
Professor Brooks' research involves the use of positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging to diagnose and study the progression of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases in life and to validate imaging biomarkers for therapeutic trials.
Professor Brooks will be giving a keynote speech on Imaging Inflammation and Its Role in Neurodegeneration. This is important for understanding and evaluating the role of imaging in diagnostics and may aid researchers involved in ME-related imaging studies.
Professor David Brooks MD, DSc, FRCP, FMedSci
To date, Professor Brooks has published over 350 reports in peer reviewed journals, including Nature and has an h index of 97. His research is supported by grants from the EU FP7 programmes, UK Medical Research Council, the Alzheimer's Research Trust, Parkinson's UK, the Michael J Fox Foundation, Lundbeck Foundation, Danish Council for Independent Research, and industry. He is Chairman of the Executive Committee of the EMBL Nordic Hub at Aarhus University and is a member of the scientific advisory board of Alzheimer UK. He has been a member of the scientific advisory boards of the German Dementia and Parkinson networks, the Austrian KLIF Science Fund, the Research Advisory Panels of the UK Parkinson's Disease Society, Inserm, the Michael J. Fox Foundation (2002-2006), UK Medical Research Council Neuroscience and Mental Health Board (2004-2007), UK Huntington's Disease Association, and was Chairman of the Scientific Issues Committee of the Movement Disorder Society (1998-2002) and a Director of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism (1993-1997). He was Chairman of the Council of Management of the UK Parkinson's Disease Society 1997-8. He is an Associate Editor of Brain and on the Editorial Boards of Parkinsonism and Related Disorders, Basal Ganglia, Journal of Parkinson's Disease, Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery, Synapse, Molecular Imaging and Biology, Journal of Neurotherapeutics, and Current Trends in Neurology. He was on the editorial boards of the Journal of Neural Transmission, Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry and Movement Disorders. In 2001 he was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Science, UK. In 2002 he was invited to give the Stan Fahn Lecture at the International Congress of Movement Disorders, Miami, in 2003 the George Cotzias Lecture in Madrid, in 2004 the Charles E Wilson Lecture, the Psychobiology Institute, Jerusalem March 2004, in 2005 the Kuhl-Lassen lecture at the Society of Nuclear Medicine, Toronto, and in 2006 the Sprague lecture at UC Irvine.
Professor David Brooks BioDr Daniel Peterson
Former Dean of Biological Sciences, UEA
With over 25 years of medical practice, Dr Daniel L. Peterson has become a sought-after internist for diagnosing difficult and complex medical cases.
When several patients in Incline Village became ill with symptoms that resembled persistent mononucleosis, Daniel Peterson was one of the first physicians to recognize an outbreak of what is known as ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS). He became a pioneering physician and researcher in understanding the biological characteristics and methods for diagnosing, managing and treating ME/CFS. He has also performed major studies of Ampligen as a treatment for ME/CFS, and studying the possible role of human herpes virus 6 (HHV-6) in CFS patients.
Dr. Peterson's experience as both a clinician and a research collaborator provides a unique perspective on CFS/ME for developing translational science.
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Professor Maureen Hanson
Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, New York, USA
Maureen Hanson is Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Previously she was on the faculty of the Department of Biology at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and an NIH NRSA postdoctoral fellow at Harvard, where she also completed her Ph.D. degree. While most of her prior research has concerned cell and molecular biology in plant cells, she began a research program on ME/CFS after noting at a 2007 IACFS meeting the paucity of molecular biologists studying the illness. Her lab was part of the 2012 multicenter study organized by Ian Lipkin's group at Columbia University to assess the actual role of XMRV in ME/CFS. Dr. Hanson has a current project to examine the microbiome of ME/CFS patients and controls, in collaboration with Dr. Ruth Ley (Cornell Microbiology) and Susan Levine, M.D. (Manhattan, NY). Dr Levine is also collaborating with Dr. Hanson on an immune cell gene expression project that involves Dr. Fabien Campagne and Dr. Rita Shaknovich at Weill Cornell Medical School in New York City. Dr. Hanson's third project concerns analysis of blood samples from individuals performing a two-day cardiopulmonary exercise test at Ithaca College under the supervision of Dr. Betsy Keller.
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Professor Jonas Blomberg
Emeritus Professor of Clinical Virology, Department of Medical Sciences, Uppsala University, Sweden
Professor Jonas Blomberg is an MD and PhD, graduating at the University of Gothenburg. Has worked with Lipids at the department of Medical Biochemistry 1965-1972 as a Clinical Virologist in Gothenburg 1972-1979 and as a postDoc at John Stephensons Lab at NCI Frederick on retroviruses 1979-1981. He then worked as a Clinical Virologist in Lund, Sweden 1981-1995 and then as a professor of Clinical Virology in Uppsala 1996- to the present.
His main fields of interest are: Retrovirology, Bioinformatics, Clinical Virology and broadly targeted and multiplex methods for detection of microbial nucleic acid.
He also is interested in evolution and Infection biology.
Professor Blomberg is on the editorial board of Journal of Virology http://jvi.asm.org/site/misc/edboard.xhtml.
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Professor James Baraniuk
Professor of Medicine at Georgetown University Medical Centre, washington, USA
James N. Baraniuk was born in Alberta, Canada, south of Banff. He earned his honours degree in chemistry and microbiology, medical degree, and unique bachelor's degree in medicine (cardiology) at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. Thereafter, he moved to Akron, OH, USA, for his internship and internal medicine residency at St Thomas Hospital. After another year of internal medicine residency at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, he trained with Dr C.E. Buckley, III, in allergy and clinical immunology. He moved to the laboratory of Dr Michael Kaliner at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, MD, and there began his long-standing collaboration with Dr Kimihiro Ohkubo. After 2 years studying neuropeptides, he joined Dr Peter Barnes' laboratory at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Brompton Hospital, London, UK. Dr Baraniuk returned to Washington, DC, and Georgetown University, where he is currently Associate Professor with Tenure in the Department of Medicine.
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Professor Ronald Davis
Professor of Biochemistry and Genetics at the Stanford School of Medicine in Stanford, California, USA
Ronald W. Davis, Ph.D., is a Professor of Biochemistry and Genetics at the Stanford School of Medicine in Stanford, California.
He is a world leader in the development of biotechnology, especially the development of recombinant DNA and genomic methodologies and their application to biological systems.
At Stanford University, where he is Director of the Stanford Genome Technology Center, Dr. Davis focuses on the interface of nano-fabricated solid state devices and biological systems.
He and his research team also develop novel technologies for the genetic, genomic, and molecular analysis of a wide range of model organisms as well as humans.
The team's focus on practical application of these technologies is setting the standard for clinical genomics.
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Doris Jones MSc
Medical Researcher, UK
Doris Jones is an independent medical researcher who investigates the dangers of drugs, particularly those causing ME.
She has been involved in ME issues since 1989 - since her son developed ME in 1980 aged 12 1/2. She carried out a very large multifactorial study into ME for which she was awarded an MSc in 1992 and has shown the results of that study, and subsequent independently conducted studies, at various international conferences. She was also a Reference Group member to the CMO's Working Group on CFS/ME and submitted numerous documents to that group, including results of a long-term follow-up study. She have recently made two submissions to the Gibson Inquiry - most of these details are on the 25% ME group website. Subsequently she had 2 articles published on exactly these links and associations, one was published as a Second Opinion item in the What Doctors Don't Tell You newsletter, Dec.1993, the other - a much more comprehensive overview piece with many references - was published in the March 1997 issue of Yoga & Health.
In her own research she has identified another specific group (a possible subgroup) of ME/CFS patients, i.e. those who attribute the onset of ME on an exacerbation of their existing illness to the use of the antibiotic Septrin / Bactrim (generic name Cotrimoxazole).
She has performed 2 separate studies on such patients, details of which were shown at the 2 international conferences on CFS and Related Disorders in 1995 and 1999 in Brussels and elsewhere. The abstract of the first of these studies was published in the Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, 1996. This particular antibiotic was severely restricted in the UK in 1995 (and in Sweden already about 10 years earlier!). She has covered this particular topic in an article published in the November 1996 issue of Yoga & Health and again the DoH, the Health Select Committee and just recently the Gibson Inquiry have been informed of these links.
She has notified the Health Select Committee of these links for some of their inquiries (and indeed much earlier in 1992 the DoH!), and just recently has submitted evidence to the Gibson Inquiry.
Doris strongly believes that the link between vaccines and some cases of ME should be properly investigated as a matter of urgency.
Dr Vicky Whittemore
Program Director in the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health in the United States.
Dr. Whittemore is a Program Director in the Synapses, Channels and Neural Circuits Cluster. Her interest is in understanding the underlying mechanisms of the epilepsies including the study of genetic and animal models of the epilepsies.
The major goal is to identify effective treatments for the epilepsies and to develop preventions. Dr. Whittemore received a Ph.D. in anatomy from the University of Minnesota, followed by post-doctoral work at the University of California, Irvine, and a Fogarty Fellowship at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.
She was on the faculty of the University of Miami School of Medicine in The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis prior to working with several non-profit organizations including the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance, Genetic Alliance, Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE), and the National Coalition for Health Professional Education in Genetics (NCHPEG).
She also just completed a four-year term on the National Advisory Neurological Disorders and Stroke Council.
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Professor Leonard Jason PhD
DePaul University, Chicago, USA
Professor Jason has been among the most prolific of all ME/CFS researchers.
For more than a decade, Professor Jason and his team at DePaul University's Centre for Community Research in Chicago have worked to
define the scope and impact of ME/CFS worldwide.
Professor Jason was Vice President of the International Association for Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome (now the IACFS/ME) and has been a key driver of CFS research since 1991, and is uniquely positioned to support
collaboration between CFS researchers, patients, and government decision makers.
His studies have shown that the direct and indirect costs of ME/CFS amount
to $20 billion in the U.S. each year, and more than 1 million people suffer from ME/CFS as opposed to
the estimated 20,000 people originally reported by the
CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
Professor Nora Chapman, PhD
University of Nebraska Enterovirus Research Laboratory, USA
Nora Chapman, PhD is a Research Scientist at the University of Nebraska Enterovirus Research Laboratory and Associate Professor at
the University of Nebraska. Dr. Chapman studies persistent coxsackie infections in murine models of chronic myoccarditas
and dilated cardiomyopathy. She and her associates have demonstrated that selection of defective enterovirus
in heart and other tissues leads to persistent infections despite active antiviral immune responses.
Dr. Chapman is presently studying the mode of selection of these viruses and the effects of replication of these viruses upon infected cell function. Dr. Chapman and her associates at the University of Nebraska are further investigating Dr. John Chia's work in regards to enterovirus in the gut biopsies.
Source : Enterovirus Foundation
Dr Paul Cheney MD, PhD
Cheney Clinic in Asheville, North Carolina, USA
Dr Paul Cheney, MD, PhD, is Medical Director of the Cheney Clinic in Asheville, North Carolina. For more than 25 years, Dr Cheney has been a pioneering clinical researcher in the field of ME/CFS and has been an internationally recognized authority on the subject of ME/CFS. He has published numerous articles and lectured around the world on ME/CFS and is author/co-author of numerous publications and scientific presentations about ME/CFS.
Dr Jonathan Kerr BSc, MBBCh, MD, PhD, FRCPath
Department of Microbiology, West Suffolk Hospital Foundation Trust, UK
Jonathan Kerr was Sir Joseph Hotung Senior Lecturer in Inflammation, St George's University of London. Jonathan Kerr qualified in medicine from Queen’s University of Belfast (1987), and completed training as a medical microbiologist (1995). He has worked as a microbiologist in Belfast, Manchester and London, taking up post as a Consultant Senior Lecturer in Microbiology at Royal Brompton Hospital / Imperial College in June 2001, and then Sir Joseph Hotung Clinical Senior Lecturer in Inflammation at St George’s University of London in 2005. His interest in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) began during a study of the consequences of parvovirus B19 infection, when he showed that a percentage of infected cases developed CFS which persisted for several years. He is now the principal investigator in a programme of research in CFS. This involves development of a diagnostic test using mass spectrometry, analysis of human and viral gene expression in the white blood cells, and clinical trials of immunomodulatory drugs. Dr. Jonathan Kerr and colleagues at St. George’s University of London reported in the July 27, 2005 issue of the Journal of Clinical Pathology that a preliminary study of 25 CFS patients and 25 matched healthy controls revealed abnormalities in 35 of 9,522 genes analyzed using microarray technology. Polymerase chain reaction studies showed the same results for 16 of these genes. The study, and its results, raises some important questions. The first of which pertains to the need for funding of microbiological CFS research. He leads a group of 5 scientists at St George's. His research on gene expression has resulted in several published papers – including evidence of 7 distinct sub types of ME/CFS. Dr. Kerr also runs a ME/CFS research program. He studied the consequences of parvovirus B19 infection in ME/CFS and showed that a percentage of infected cases developed ME/CFS which persisted for several years. He has reported 88 human genes whose dysregulation is associated with CFS, and which can be used to derive genomic CFS subtypes which have marked differences in clinical phenotype and severity.
Nancy Klimas
Director, Institute for Neuro Immune Medicine, Nova Southeastern University
Director, Clinical Immunology Research, Miami VAMC
Professor of Medicine, Department of Clinical Immunology, College of Osteopathic Medicine, Nova Southeastern University
Chair, Department of Clinical Immunology, College of Osteopathic Medicine, Nova Southeastern University
Professor Emerita, University of Miami, School of Medicine
Nancy Klimas, MD, has more than 30 years of professional experience and has achieved international recognition for her research and clinical efforts in multi-symptom disorders, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), Gulf War Illness (GWI), Fibromyalgia, and other Neuro Immune Disorders. She is immediate past president of the International Association for CFS and ME (IACFS/ME), a professional organization of clinicians and investigators, and is also a member of the VA Research Advisory Committee for GWI, the NIH P2P CFS Committee, and the Institute of Medicine ME/CFS Review Panel. Dr. Klimas has advised three Secretaries of Health and Human Services, including Kathleen Sabelius, during her repeated service on the Health and Human Services CFS Advisory Committee. Dr. Klimas has been featured on Good Morning America, in USA Today and the New York Times.
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Dr Elizabeth Unger
Chief of Chronic Viral Diseases Branch, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Elizabeth (Beth) Unger, PhD, MD, received an undergraduate degree in Chemistry at Lebanon Valley College, Annville, PA. She then earned her PhD and MD in the Division of Biologic Sciences at the University of Chicago where she also began a residency in pathology. Her residency and fellowship was completed at Pennsylvania State University Medical Center. During this time, Dr. Unger developed a practical method of colorimetic in situ hybridization. This work led to interest in tissue localization of HPV and ultimately to her initial appointment to CDC in 1997 to pursue molecular pathology of HPV and CFS.
Dr. Unger has served as the Acting Chief of CVDB since January 2010 and has 13 years of experience in CVDB, where she has participated in the design and implementation of CFS research and HPV laboratory diagnostics. During this time, she was co-author on 25 peer-reviewed manuscripts related to CFS, including the often-cited descriptions of the Wichita and Georgia population-based studies. In addition, Dr. Unger has been instrumental in efforts by WHO to establish an HPV LabNet and serves as lead of a WHO HPV Global Reference Laboratory. She is co-author of 142 peer-reviewed publications and 24 book chapters and serves on the editorial board of six scientific journals. In 2008, for her HPV research accomplishments, she received the Health and Human Services (HHS) Career Achievement Award.
Dr Unger has been selected to serve as the Chief of the Chronic Viral Diseases Branch (CVDB) in the Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology (DHCPP), National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Dr Per Julin
Specialist in Rehabilitation Medicine, Stora Sköndal, Stockholm, Sweden
Dr. Per Julin is a specialist in rehabilitation medicine at the Stora Sköndal clinic in Stockholm, Sweden and also Senior Consultant, Neurological Rehabilitation Medicine at Karolinska Institute, Department of Clinical Sciences, Danderyd Hospital Stockholm, Sweden.
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Professor Alexander MacGregor
Professor of Genetic Epidemiology and Professor of Chronic Illness, Norwich Medical School, Norwich, UK
Consultant Rheumatology Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, Norwich, UK
Professor Alexander MacGregor is a clinical epidemiologist, has expertise in genetic epidemiology (linking with the Twins UK cohort) and orthopaedic outcomes research thorough involvement with the national joint register.
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Professor Michelle West
Professor of Tumour Virology (Biochemistry), University of Sussex , Sussex, UK
Following her PhD, Dr West worked on the the c-myc transcription factor at the University of Leicester as a Post-doctoral Fellow before moving to the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Cambridge to work on the regulation of HIV transcription. She moved to Sussex in November 2001 as an independent Wellcome Trust Fellow and was appointed as a member of academic faculty in March 2006, part-funded by the Wellcome Trust until March 2010.
Research expertise:
B cells, Cancer cell biology, Cell cycle, Chromatin, Epigenetics, Transcriptional regulation, Translational regulation, Virology
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Professor Karl Johan Tronstad
Professor Institute for Biomedicine , Tronstad Lab, Bergen, Norway
Prof. Tronstad completed his graduate studies in biochemistry at the University of Bergen (UiB) in 2002. As postdoc at the Haukeland University Hospital, he studied bioactive compounds with the potential to modulate mitochondrial functions in cancer cells. In 2005 he was recruited to the Department of Biomedicine, UiB, where he started his research group to investigate metabolism and mitochondrial physiology. His laboratory seeks to better our understanding of how defective mitochondrial homeostasis may disturb cell physiology, and how this may be involved in mechanisms of cancer and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS).
Karl was involved with the recent paper to come from Bergen - Journal of Clinical Investigation Insight. The Tronstad Lab investigates cell metabolism and mitochondrial biology and we are very fortunate that he can spare time to participate in the Colloquium.
Specialisms:
Metabolism, Cell biology, Mitochondria, Biochemistry
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Professor Ludovic Giloteaux
Research Associate , Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, New York, USA
Research Associate at Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Cornell
Other Links
- http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2016/06/indicator-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-found-gut-bacteria
- Metabolic profiling of a myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome discovery cohort reveals disturbances in fatty acid and lipid metabolism
- ResearchGate
- Reduced diversity and altered composition of the gut microbiome in individuals with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome
Jeremy Corbyn
Leader of the Labour Party, UK
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn is a British politician serving as Leader of the
Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition since 2015.
He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North since 1983.
Links
Professor Theoharis C. Theoharides, BA, MS, MPhil, PhD, MD, FAAAAI
Links
Professor of Pharmacology and Internal Medicine, Tufts University, Boston, USA
Theoharis Theoharides is Professor of Pharmacology and Internal Medicine, as well as Director of Molecular Immunopharmacology and
Drug Discovery, in the Department of Immunology at Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA.
He was born in Thessaloniki, Greece, and graduated with Honors from Anatolia College.
He received all his degrees with Honors from Yale University, and was awarded the Dean’s Research Award and the Winternitz Prize
in Pathology.
He trained in internal medicine at New England Medical Center, which awarded him the Oliver Smith Award “recognizing excellence, compassion and service.” He also received a Certificate in Global Leadership from the Tufts Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a Fellowship at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He has been serving as the Clinical Pharmacologist of the Massachusetts Drug Formulary Commission continuously since 1986. In Greece, he has served on the Supreme Advisory Health Councils of the Ministries of Health and of Social Welfare, as well as on the Board of Directors of the Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Technology, and he is a member of the International Advisory Committee for the University of Cyprus School of Medicine. He first showed that mast cells, known for causing allergic reactions, are critical for inflammation, especially in the brain, and are involved in a number of inflammatory conditions that worsen by stress such as allergies, asthma, chronic fatigue syndrome, eczema, fibromyalgia, migraines, mastocytosis, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, and most recently autism spectrum disorder.
He has also shown that corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), neurotensin and substance P, peptides secreted under stress, act together, and with the cytokine IL-33, to trigger mast cells and microglia to secrete inflammatory molecules. These processes are inhibited by the novel flavonoids, luteolin and tetramethoxyluteolin that he has helped formulate in unique dietary supplements and a skin lotion. He has published over 400 scientific papers (JBC, JACI, JPET, NEJM, Nature, PNAS, Science) and 3 textbooks with 29,887 citations (h-factor 84) and he is in the top 5% of authors most cited in pharmacological and immunological journals. He has received 37 patents and trademarks, including three patents covering the use of luteolin in brain inflammation and autism: US 8,268,365 (09/18/12); US 9,050,275 (06/09/15); US 9,176,146 (11/03/15).
Acting as Advisor, he was instrumental in the development of ibuprofen (Upjohn), Cetirizine (UCB) and Niaspan (Kos). He is also the Scientific Director of Algonot, LLC, as well as President of Theta Biomedical Consulting and Development Co., Inc., of BiomedAdvice, LLC, and of the nonprofit Brain-Gain.org. He is a member of 15 academies and scientific societies. He was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha National Medical Honor Society and the Rare Diseases Hall of Fame. At Tufts, he served on the Curriculum, Students Promotion, Grievance, Faculty Promotion and Tenure, as well as Strategic Planning Committees. He received the Tufts Excellence in Teaching ten times, the Tufts Distinguished Faculty Recognition Award twice, the Tufts Alumni Award for Faculty Excellence, Boston Mayor’s Community Award, and the Dr. George Papanicolau Award, as well as Honorary Doctor of Medicine from Athens University and Honorary Doctor of Sciences from Hellenic-American University. He is “Archon” of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
Dr Peter Holger Johnsen MD
University Hospital of North Norway, Harstad, Norway - Internal Medicine
Dr Johnsen works in the medical department at the University of Northern Norway in Harstad.
He is currently involved in the clinical trial of FMT which is being funded by the Norwegian Health Council.
Five million Norwegian kroner has been awarded for the trial.
The study is supported by Norwegian Research Council.
Together, it will be included 78 participants who either receive treatment with FMT from a healthy donor or placebo.
The study is double blinded, which means that neither participants nor scientists will know who received the treatment
from donor or placebo before the study ends.
Startup with the inclusion of participants begins during Summer 2018.
Links
Dr Avindra Nath MD
NIH National Institute of Neurological Disorders, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
Dr. Nath received his MD degree from Christian Medical College in India in 1981 and completed a residency in Neurology from University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, followed by a fellowship in Multiple Sclerosis and Neurovirology at the same institution and then a fellowship in Neuro-AIDS at NINDS.
He held faculty positions at the University of Manitoba (1990-97) and the University of Kentucky (1997-02).
In 2002, he joined Johns Hopkins University as Professor of Neurology and Director of the Division of Neuroimmunology and Neurological Infections.
He joined NIH in 2011 as the Clinical Director of NINDS, the Director of the Translational Neuroscience Center and Chief of the Section of Infections of the Nervous System.
His research focuses on understanding the pathophysiology of retroviral infections of the nervous system and the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for these diseases.
Links
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- Nath A. Neuroinfectious diseases: a crisis in neurology and a call for action. JAMA Neurol. 2015;72(2):143-4.
- Uzasci L, Auh S, Cotter RJ, Nath A. Mass spectrometric phosphoproteome analysis of HIV-infected brain reveals novel phosphorylation sites and differential phosphorylation patterns. Proteomics Clin Appl. 2016;10(2):126-35.
- Li GH, Anderson C, Jaeger L, Do T, Major EO, Nath A. Cell-to-cell contact facilitates HIV transmission from lymphocytes to astrocytes via CXCR4. AIDS. 2015;29(7):755-66.
- Johnson TP, Patel K, Johnson KR, Maric D, Calabresi PA, Hasbun R, Nath A. Induction of IL-17 and nonclassical T-cell activation by HIV-Tat protein. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013;110(33):13588-93.
- Douville RN, Nath A. Human endogenous retroviruses and the nervous system. Handb Clin Neurol. 2014;123:465-85.
Professor Markku Partinen, MD, PhD
University of Helsinki, Finland
Prof Markku Partinen is a neurologist and an internationally well-known opinion leader and expert in sleep research and sleep medicine.
Professor Markku Partinen is currently Director of the Helsinki Sleep Clinic, Vitalmed Research Centre, and Principal Investigator of Sleep Research at Institute of Clinical Medicine, Clinicum, University of Helsinki, Finland.
He has been the coordinator of the NARPANord Narcolepsy Consortium.
He became interested in sleep research while studying medicine at the University of Montpellier, France.
He obtained his medical degree (DrMed) from Montpellier in 1976 (Supervisor Prof Pierre Passouant).
He received his PhD in 1982 (epidemiology of sleep disorders), and degree of a specialist in neurology in 1982, in Helsinki, Finland.
He has worked as a postdoc researcher at Stanford University, USA in 1985-86 and in Bologna, Italy in 1987.
In addition, he has had several shorter visits as visiting researcher or visiting Professor at different Universities in Europe.
His main interests in sleep medicine have been narcolepsy, excessive daytime sleepiness and fatigue (including ME), sleep apnea, and parasomnias.
He has published more than 330 original articles in peer reviewed Journals in addition to writing many book Chapters and editing several books.
His Hirsch factor (H-factor) is 59 in ISI Web of Sciences and 64 in Scopus.
He has served in the Editorial Boards and as Assistant Editor in Sleep, Journal of Sleep Research and Sleep Medicine.
He has had many International positions in different research societies including Member of the Scientific Board and Vice-President
of the European Sleep Research Society (ESRS), President of the Scandinavian Sleep Research Society, President Elect and President of the
World Association of Sleep Medicine (WASM), Coordinating Secretary of the World Federation of Sleep Research Societies (WFSRS) and
President and Member of the Board of the Scandinavian Sleep Research Society.
He has been President of the ESRS congress in 1992 (Helsinki), the World Congress of Sleep Apnea in 2003 (Helsinki),
and the WASM congress in 2007 (Bangkok).
In addition, he has organized several smaller meetings and symposia in the field of narcolepsy, RBD and different sleep disorders.
Currently he is a Member of the Board in the ESRS EU-Narcolepsy Network (EU-NN) and Chair of Scientific Board of the EU-NN, President of the
Finnish Parkinson Association and President of the Finnish Sleep Research Society.
He has published
more than 250 articles in peer-reviewed international journals, several books and chapters.
Links
Professor Heikki Hyöty, MD, PhD
Links
School of Medicine, Virology University of Tampere, Finland.
Professor Heikki Hyöty is a professor of Virology at the University of Tampere, Finland
Professor Heikki Hyöty’s group has long experience in studies evaluating the role of viruses in type 1 diabetes and allergies.
He has published pioneering prospective studies and has made many new discoveries on the role of enteroviruses in diabetes.
One recent initiative is a project aiming at developing enterovirus vaccine against type 1 diabetes.
This long-term commitment to this particular topic has created a strong research center in Tampere.
Dr. Hyöty has previous experience from the coordination of large scale international research projects (for example two EU projects)
and the laboratory participates in international quality control programmes (e.g Quality Control for Molecular Diagnostics, QCMD)
and complies with general GLP and written SOPs.
Professor Hyöty’s group has also made pioneering work in translation of research findings
in collaboration with academic and industrial partners.
Dr Jesper Mehlsen
Research Director, Coordinating Research Centre, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital, Denmark
Co-chair European ME Research Group
Expertises
Autonomic nervous system; Heart rate and blood pressure control; Cardiovascular physiology and pathophysiology;HPV vaccines and -complications
Main research areas
Methods for the study of autonomic cardiovascular control; Mathematical modelling of cardiovascular control; Autoimmune response to vaccination; Mathematical modeling of the neuroinflammatory reflex
Current research
Mathematical analysis of hemodynamic adaptations to the upright posture.Mathematical analysis of hemodynamic response to Valsalva manoeuvre
Dynamic T-wave alterations and the autonomic nervous system
Mathematical analysis of cytokine response to LPS in humans
Autoimmunity in patients with possible side effects to HPV vaccination
Links
Dr Naomi Allen
Links
Senior Epidemiologist, UK Biobank, University of Oxford, UK
Senior Epidemiologist, UK Biobank
Naomi Allen is Senior Epidemiologist for UK Biobank and an Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Oxford, UK.
She is responsible for processing the linkage of routine electronic medical records into the study for long-term follow-up (including deaths, cancers, primary and secondary care data as well as other health-related datasets).
She helps to co-ordinate the introduction of new enhancements into the resource (such as the development of web-based questionnaires and proposals for cohort-wide biomarker assays) and provides scientific advice to researchers worldwide wishing to access UK Biobank.
Her academic research interests are in cancer epidemiology, with a keen research interest in the role of diet, obesity and circulating biomarkers in cancer development.
Dr Lesley Hoyles
Imperial College, London, UK
Dr Lesley Hoyles is a microbiologist and computational biologist, and an MRC Intermediate Research Fellow in Data Science (UK Med-Bio). The early years of her career focussed on the isolation and phenotypic characterization of novel anaerobic Actinobacteria. Her PhD studies at the University of Reading introduced Dr Hoyles to the gut microbiota, and led her to develop an interest in integrating various -omics and traditional approaches to look at microbe–host interactions and co-metabolism. After completing a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship in Science, Engineering and Technology (IRCSET scheme) at University College Cork to develop improved methods for the isolation and characterization of gut-associated bacteriophages, Dr Hoyles was awarded an MRC Advanced Scholarship to undertake an MSc in Bioinformatics with Theoretical Systems Biology at Imperial College London.
Subsequently, Dr Hoyles has worked in the field of translational systems biology at Imperial College London, using her unique skill set to investigate host–microbiome interactions and co-metabolism in humans, and animal and in vitro models.
In addition to her research interests, Dr Hoyles teaches on the MRes Biomedical Research stream Microbiome in Health and Disease. She is heavily involved in outreach activities, running Bugs In Your Guts and an after-school science club, and volunteering at the Turing House CoderDojo. Dr Hoyles is a STEM Ambassador and an Academic Editor for PeerJ.
Dr Karl Morten
University of Oxford, UK
Dr Karl Morten is a researcher and laboratory manager at Nuffield Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford University.
Links
Professor Kristian Sommerfelt
Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
Professor Kristian Sommerfelt is a paediatric neurologist at Haukeland University hospital in Bergen, Norway
.................
Links
QIB PhD Students
Quadram Institute Bioscience, UK
PhD Students at Quadram Institute Bioscience are Daniel Vipond, Fiona Newberry, Katahrine Seton and Shen-Yuan Hsieh.
Projects funded by Invest in ME Research are here - http://www.investinme.org/ce-projoverview.shtml
Links
Dr Ben Seddon
Benedict Seddon, Institute of Immunity and Transplantation · Division of Infection and Immunity, UCL, London, UK
Dr Ben Seddon undertook his PhD with Prof Don Mason at the former MRC's Cellular Immunology Unit, at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology in Oxford University.
There he studied the role and mechanisms of regulatory T cells in the control of autoimmunity in rats.
He then moved to the MRCs National Institute for Medical Research where he worked first as a post-doc with Dr Rose Zamoyska in the Division of Molecular Immunology,
and then started his independent research group as a Programme Leader in the Division of Immune Cell Biology.
He has had 10 years at NIMR establishing a research programme investigating the mechanisms of T cell homeostasis, generating novel genetic models of TCR and
cytokine signalling, employing mathematical approaches to gain systems level understanding and identifying novel roles for inflammatory signalling
for T cell maturation.
In 2013, he relocated the lab to the Institute of Immunity and Transplantation at the Royal Free Hospital Campus of University College London, where he is investigating the role of TNFSFR signalling and NF-kappaB transcription factors in the maturation and function of T cells in health and disease.
Malav Trivedi
Assistant Professor at Nova Southeastern University
EDUCATION/TRAINING:
B.S.- Pharmacy - North Gujarat University
M.S.-Pharmacology - Northeastern University
Ph.D.- Pharmacology - Northeastern University
Links
Anne Cooke, FMedSci, FRSB
Emeritus Professor of Immunobiology Anne Cooke, University of Cambridge, UK
Anne Cooke began her academic career as a postdoctoral fellow. From 1970 to 1972, she held a SRC postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Sussex. From 1972 to 1973, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Illinois and worked at the Medical Center, Chicago, USA. From 1973 to 1978, she held a Arthritis Research UK postdoctoral research fellowship in the Immunology Department of Middlesex Hospital. Then from 1978 to 1981, while remaining at Middlesex Hospital, she was a Wellcome Trust senior research fellow.
In 1981, she moved from research into teaching and research.
From 1981 to 1988, she was a Wellcome Trust senior lecturer within the immunology division of the UCL Medical School and also at the Middlesex Hospital Medical
School.
From 1988 to 1990, she was Reader in Experimental Immunology at University College London.
In 1990, Anne moved to the University of Cambridge.
From 1990 to 1996, she was a lecturer in the Department of Pathology.
In 1992, she was elected a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge.
From 1996 to 2000, she was Reader in Immunology.
In 1999, she was a visiting professor at the University of Washington, Seattle.
On 1 October 2000,
she was granted a personal chair and appointed Professor of Immunobiology.
In 2013,
she retired from full-time academia; she was appointed Professor Emeritus and made an Emeritus Fellow of King's College.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Cooke
BSc (Hons) Biochemistry, University of Glasgow
DPhil Biochemistry, University of Sussex.
SRC Postdoctoral Fellowship, Dept Biochemistry, U. Sussex.
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Illinois at the Medical Center, Chicago,USA.
ARC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, Immunology Department, Middlesex Hospital Medical School.
Honorary Lecturer, Dept Biochemistry, St Mary's Hospital Medical School.
Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow, Immunology Department, Middlesex Hospital Medical School.
Wellcome Trust Senior Lecturer, Immunology Division, University College and Middlesex Schools of Medicine.
Reader in Experimental Immunology University College, London
Lecturer, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge.
Reader in Immunology, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge.
Professor of Immunobiology, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge.
Honorary Fellow, University College, London.
Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences
Honorary Degree University of Copenhagen
Associate Professor Petter Brodin MD PhD
Associate Professor
SciLifeLab, Department of Women’s and Children’s health , Karolinska Institutet
Department Newborn Medicine , Karolinska University Hospital
Sweden
Associate Professor Petter Brodin's team at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden - is aiming to understand human immune system variation in health and disease, and understand the factors that shape human immune systems.
Other interests are in defining better metrics of immune system health and develoingp methods for better immune system analyses in human patients.
As a physician at the department of pediatrics at the Karolinska University Hospital, he has a particular interest in understanding when and how human immune systems are shaped early in life, and the influences by environmental exposures such as the microbiome, infections, vaccines, nutritional components etc in this process.
His team is firmly convinced that the way to understand human immune systems and their variation,
is to analyse all system components simultaneously and relathionships between these taken into account.
This have recently been made possible with the development of novel high-dimensional methods operating at single-cell resolution, such as Mass cytometry and scRNA-seq.
To analyze human immune systems at the systems-level, his team is developing novel experimental methods and algorithms for analyses.
Other Links
Professor Brigitte Huber PhD
Professor of Pathology at Tufts University, Boston, USA
Professor Huber studied immunogenetics at University of London and is currently Professor of Pathology at Tufts University, Boston, USA.
Dr Huber joined the faculty of Tufts Medical School in 1977, and her laboratory has investigated the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved
in the immune response since that time. She has studied the presence of retrovirus HERV K-18 as a marker for those who might develop ME/CFS after
an acute infection such as mononucleosis.
Her research shows that EBV induces the HERV K-18 envelope gene to trigger the expression of a specific
superantigen and that there are more HERV K-18 alleles in post-mono ME/CFS patients than in controls.
She hopes to identify other subsets among CFS patients.
Mrs Annette Whittemore
Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuroimmune Diseases, Reno, Nevada, USA
Founder and President of the Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuroimmune Diseases, Reno, Nevada, USA.
The Institute is located on the medical campus of the University of Nevada.
Its mission is to serve those with complex neuro-immune diseases such as ME/CFS,
viral induced central nervous system dysfunction and fibromyalgia. Annette Whittemore
graduated in Elementary and Special Education at the University of Nevada and taught
children with neuro-cognitive deficits, such as those found in autism, ADD, and learning
disabilities. As the president and director of the current operations at the Institute
Annette supports the basic and clinical research program, and actively recruits physicians
and other support personnel for the Institute.
Dr Judy Mikovits
Research Director at the Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuroimmune Diseases, Reno, Nevada, USA
Dr Judy Mikovits obtained her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from George Washington University. She is Research Director at the Whittemore Peterson Nevada CFS centre for Neuro-Immune disorders and has co-authored over 40 peer reviewed publications that address fundamental issues of viral pathogenesis, hematopoiesis and cytokine biology. Dr Mikovits was co-author of the "Detection of an Infectious Retrovirus, XMRV, in Blood Cells of Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" research paper in October 2009 in Science magazine.
Dr Ron Tompkins MD, ScD
Director of the Center for Surgery, Science and Bioengineering, Massachusetts General Hospital
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
Ronald G. Tompkins, MD, ScD, is the Sumner M. Redstone Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, Founding Director of the Center for Surgery, Science & Bioengineering at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Chief of Staff Emeritus at Shriners Hospitals for Children―Boston.
The Center, a division of Surgery at Mass General, is a newly established center for research and innovation based upon the Mass General Burns Division’s collaborative track record and expertise in securing more than $200 million in federal, foundation, and industrial support for basic research and clinical programs.
It is a clinically-driven enterprise that engages in the basic sciences and engineering to solve everyday challenges in clinical medicine. The center promotes the development of new approaches to healthcare delivery and personalized medicine, minimally invasive therapies, as well as a myriad of new technologies such as re-engineered organs, smart nano-pharmaceuticals and nano-diagnostics, and living cell-based microfabricated devices for diagnostics, therapeutics, high-throughput drug screening, and basic and applied biomedical investigation.
He is a board-certified general surgeon with a doctorate in chemical engineering, which provides him with expertise not only in the clinical evaluation of critical care patients, but also in inflammation biology, genomics, proteomics, and computational biology.
Elected as a Director of the American Board of Surgery in 1994, he has received multiple honors including a fellowship from the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and an honorary M.A. from Harvard University. He has served as an officer including as President and Board Member of more than a dozen national and international academic societies. RESEARCH SUMMARY
Dr. Tompkins has published more than 450 research papers in medicine and engineering journals and has contributed to the advancement of science and engineering through service on institutional advisory panels, moderating mini-symposia and workshops on biotechnology, and studying the genomics and proteomics of immunology and metabolism resulting from injury.
Together with his Division colleagues, nearly 300 fellows have been mentored in the Division’s training programs with many excellent success stories.
Other Links
Dr Wenzhong Xiao
Assistant Professor of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital/Assistant Professor of Surgery (Bioinformatics), Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School
Dr. Xiao serves as an Assistant Professor of Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Xiao is internationally recognized in the field of Computational Genomics in Surgery and Medicine. He develops genomics tools and computational methods that can be widely applicable in clinical studies, study the human immuno-metabolic response in disease, and develop innovative approaches to address these challenges and to help translate genomic studies of patients to better disease diagnosis, prevention and therapeutics.
His area of expertise is in knowledge based analysis for the interpretation and integration of genomic data and computation to translate genome technologies to clinical research. For high-throughput, cost-effective analyses of human transcriptome in large scale patient studies, he developed the most comprehensive GeneChip to date (in collaboration with Affymetrix and Wing Wong).
Comparing with RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) data, the array is shown to be highly reproducible in estimating expression at both gene and exon levels and reliable in detection of alternative splicing. In collaboration with Dr. Ron Davis and Stanford Genome Technology Center, he has developed bioinformatic and statistical tools for data analysis, especially for alternative splicing.
From The Center for Surgery, Innovation & Bioengineering
Other Links
Dr Michael VanElzakker
Neuroscientist, Massachusetts General Hospital/Tufts University, USA
Biography
Dr. VanElzakker received a master's degree in behavioral neuroscience at the University of Colorado, working in Dr. Robert Spencer's neuroendocrinology laboratory, and a PhD in experimental clinical psychology at Tufts University, working in Dr. Lisa Shin's psychopathology neuroimaging laboratory. His postdoctoral fellowship is at Massachusetts General Hospital/ Harvard Medical School, at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, in the Division of Neurotherapeutics.
Dr. VanElzakker is interested in uncovering the mechanisms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and of myalgic encephalomyelitis - also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).
His PTSD research uses functional and structural brain imaging, behavioral attention tasks, blood, and genetic data to investigate what makes some individuals vulnerable to PTSD following trauma. He is interested in using non-invasive electroceutical medical devices to enhance safety learning, which may eventually serve as an adjunct to enhance exposure-based therapy for PTSD.
His ME/CFS research uses functional and structural brain imaging to look for abnormal patterns in brain metabolism and inflammation in this patient population. This research focuses on dysfunction at the intersection of the nervous and immune systems and posits that ME/CFS may be what happens when the nervous system detects an exaggerated and ongoing innate immune response. He is interested in using non-invasive electroceutical medical devices to enhance the anti-inflammatory vagus nerve reflex.
From The Center for Surgery, Innovation & Bioengineering
Other Links
Professor Stuart Bevan
King’s College London, UK
Biography
Professor Stuart Bevan is Professor of Pharmacology at the Wolfson Centre for Age Related Diseases. From 1997 to 2005, he was Head of the Chronic Pain Unit for Novartis based in the Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research laboratories on the UCL campus.
Other Links
European ME Clinicians Council
European ME Clinicians Council
European ME Clinicians Council
Links:
http://investinme.org/IIMER-Newslet-190102EMECC.shtml
Dr Benedicte Lie
University of Oslo, Norway
Dr Benedicte Alexandra Lie
University of Oslo · Department of Medical Genetics (DMG)
https://www.med.uio.no/klinmed/personer/vit/balie/index.html
Elisa Oltra
Universidad Católica de Valencia “San Vicente Mártir”, Spain
Dr. Elisa Oltra is a professor of Cell and Molecular Biology at the Universidad Católica de Valencia “San Vicente Mártir” where she also
works as a researcher in the area of stem-cell and cancer.
She obtained an M.S. degree in Biochemistry at the Universitat de Valencia (Spain) and later earned her PhD in Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology at the
University of Miami, FL (USA) where she stayed for her post-doctoral training and later, as Senior Scientist till 2006 when she moved
back to Spain. During her studies at the University of Miami she identified alternative 5´UTR sequences involved in regulating cell-cell
communication through mechanisms of differential connexin43 expression in the heart.
She also isolated a novel essential protein (Ini) and demonstrated its participation in mechanisms of transcription and splicing.
In 2009 she started a project to investigate the molecular basis of Fibromyalgia having identified at present irregularities
in RNAseL expression and miRNAs profile changes in the participating patients which could lead to a deeper understanding of the disease.
In 2012 she joined the IVP Valencian Institute of Pathology, also at the Universidad Católica de Valencia where she is currently studying a specific
type of vesicles: the exosomes, as mediators of stem-cell based therapies.
She is also academic director of the first officially accredited Master degree in Biobanking in Europe in collaboration with the Spanish Network
of Biobanking at the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid (Spain).
Simon McArthur
Queen Mary, University of London, UK
Simon McArthur - Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience & Pharmacology Clinical
Queen Mary, University of London
1997-2000 - University of Cambridge, BA Hons in Natural Sciences
2000-2004 - Imperial College London, PhD in Pharmacology - Effects of steroid hormones upon mesencephalic dopaminergic nuclei in rodents: adult neuroprotection & perinatal programming
2004-2011 - Research Associate, Department of Cellular & Molecular Neuroscience, Imperial College London
2011-2014 - Postdoctoral Research Fellow, William Harvey Research Institute, Queen Mary, University of London
2014-2016 - Lecturer in Physiology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Westminster
2016-present - Non-Clinical Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience & Pharmacology, Institute of Dentistry, Queen Mary, University of London
His research concentrates on Alzheimer’s disease and developing an understanding of how the factors that are known to increase risk of its development are actually mediated.
He is particularly interested in how changes in peripheral homeostasis affect the main defensive structures of the brain, the blood brain barrier (BBB) and the microglia,
and the implications these may have for the development of Alzheimer’s disease.
His group focuses on the so-called gut-brain axis, and communication between the human gut microbiota and the BBB, where they have shown several different
microbe-derived metabolites to regulate BBB integrity and function in vitro and in vivo.
A major arm of this work now focuses on investigating how dietary modification of the gut microbiota can influence neuroinflammatory disease,
with a view to identifying nutritional mechanisms to promote brain resilience in the face of neurodegenerative challenge.
This work is generously funded by Alzheimer’s Research UK.
A second focus of his research is into the mechanisms of inflammatory resolution, focusing particularly on the role of the protein annexin A1 and its
primary receptor FPR2. They have shown that annexin A1 acting through FPR2 is a major chemoattractant for infiltrating monocytes, and
that it promotes their differentiation into pro-resolving macrophages, a key step in the healthy and regulated termination of
an inflammatory reaction.
His group is now investigating the role of FPR2 in microglia, given their close relationship to macrophages, focussing on whether agonists for this receptor may
have value as an approach to limit neuroinflammatory activity in Alzheimer’s disease.
https://www.qmul.ac.uk/dentistry/people/profiles/simonmcarthur.html
BRMEC9
9th Biomedical Research into ME Colloquium 2019
The Invest in ME Research Biomedical Research into ME Colloquium 9 (#BRMEC9) will take place in London over two days from 29th - 30th May 2019.
The ninth Colloquium aims to increase international collaboration in research into ME.
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