30 & 31 May | Invest in ME Research international colloquium

This is nearly upon us and doesn't seem to have its own thread. It's the closed two-day meeting for scientists that precedes the one-day conference that's open to patients.

Details here (scroll down to see the programme): http://www.investinme.eu/BRMEC Colloquiums.shtml#brmec8

 

I haven't seen much of a buzz about this. Are you going, @Jonathan Edwards? Anything in particular that you're looking forward to?

 

People arriving:

 

Day One today. I wonder if anyone will be tweeting from it?

The schedule is on this page but I can't provide a direct link to where you have to scroll down and there's some finding and clicking to do so I hope IiMER don't mind that I reproduce the schedule here (I'd much rather see it on a separate tab on their site, which would be much easier, especially for PWME).

Welcome to the 8th Invest in ME International Biomedical Research into ME Colloquium
Dr Ian Gibson, UEA, UK

Clinical Research
CDC Multisite study and future plans
Dr Elizabeth R. Unger, CDC, USA

NIH Common Data Elements
Dr Vicky Whittemore, NIH, USA

Challenges in study design and identification of patients with post-infectious ME
Dr Avindra Nath, NIH, USA

From phenotype to endotype: empirical and data-driven approaches for parsing clinical heterogeneity of ME using immune signatures, proteomics and metabolomics
Associate Professor Mady Hornig, Columbia University, USA

Chaired Discussion - Clinical Research
Professor Angela Vincent, University of Oxford, UK

Clinical Trials
Clinical trial Results: Rituximab
Dr Øystein Fluge, Bergen, Norway

Neuronal antibodies in Norwegian ME cohort
Angela Vincent, Oxford University, UK

Clinical trial Results: CycloME
Dr Ingrid G. Rekeland, Bergen, Norway

Chaired Discussion - Clinical Trials and Research
Amolak Bansal, Epsom and St.Helier NHS Trust, UK

Microbiome
Double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical Trial: faecal microbiota transplantation
Dr Rasmus Gol /Dr Peter Johnsen, Universit of Tromso, Norway

Virome and gut microbiota research at QIB
Fiona Newberry/Katharine Seton, Quadram Institute Bioscience, UK

Chaired Discussion - Microbiome
Professor Maureen Hanson, Cornell University, USA

Purinergic Signalling / Metabolomics
Extracellular ATP and its role as a neurotransmitter and in regulating inflammatory responses
Dr Samuel Fountain, UEA, UK

Biobank Metabolomics Data
Dr Øystein Fluge, Bergen, Norway

How UK Biobank can facilitate research into ME
Naomi Allen, UK Biobank / University of Oxford, UK

Cellular energetics
Professor Karl Johan Tronstad, Bergen, Norway

Metabolism in ME/CFS
Professor Maureen Hanson, Cornell University, USA

Stanford Metabolomics/ME Update
Professor Ron Davis, Stanford, USA

How important are the associated metabolic changes in ME/CFS in driving the illness?
Dr Karl Morten, University of Oxford, UK

Chaired Discussion - Purinergic Signalling / Metabolomics
Professor Jonas Bergquist, Uppsala, Sweden

#BRMEC8 Day 1 is followed by a researchers' dinner organised by IiMER where more discussions are able to be carried out between researchers.

 

Here's a search using the #BRMEC8 tag:

https://twitter.com/search?q=#BRMEC8&src=typd

A few messages up from the colloquium already (although they're from a stuffed bear!)...

 

I really hope they will tweet or summarize in some way, there’s so much interesting stuff going on.

 

I wasn't invited to this so I don't know much about it.

I would be interested to hear what Angela Vincent has to say about neuronal antibodies.

 

Neuronal antibodies? I didn't even know they were a thing.

 

I was hoping that people would tweet within the bounds of keeping those secrets!

It's just nice to feel part of things that are important to us but that we're excluded from (including things that we're just too ill to turn up to). I understand why we're excluded in this instance but...

 

The colloquium looks really good. And a strong mix of both uk and international, mainly USA & Norway, researchers.

 

I keep forgetting you have to click 'Latest' to see the latest tweets...



Anyway, at least people have shown up!

That's a shame - I think you would have added a great deal, and it would have been good to have you there when the rituximab trial results are being discussed.

 

Gigantic amounts of discreet silence emanating from the colloquium - just IiMER's bear appears to be on the case, highly focused on the food:

 

Friday's!

 

Meanwhile, here is the schedule for tomorrow:

Welcome to the 8th Invest in ME International Biomedical Research into ME Colloquium
Dr Ian Gibson, UEA, UK

Virology
The role of enteroviruses in T1 diabetes
Professor Heikki Hyöty, University of Tampere, Finland

HPV and autoimmunity
Dr Jesper Mehlsen, Copenhagen, Denmark

Chaired Discussion - Virology
Professor Tom Wileman, University of East Anglia, UK

Immunology
Mast cells and ME
Professor Theoharis Theoharides, Tufts University, USA

T cell homeostasis
Dr Ben Seddon, UCL, London, UK

Oxidative stress hypothesis for reprogramming PBMC to iPSCs then to Neurons in ME/CFS patients
Malav Trivedi, Nova Southeastern University, USA

Chaired Discussion - Immunology
Anne Cooke, University of Cambridge, UK

Systems Biology
Integrated systems biology to understand the role of the gut microbiome in health and disease
Lesley Hoyles, Imperial College London, UK

Using machine learning to objectively define ME/CFS subtypes
Travis Craddock, Nova Southeastern University, USA

Chaired Discussion - Systems Biology
Professor Jonas Bergquist, University of Uppsala, Sweden

ANS [autonomic nervous system]
Observations in Paediatric ME
Professor Kristian Sommerfelt, Bergen, Norway

Relationship between sleep quality and functioning of the autonomic nervous system in ME/CFS
Markku Partinen, University of Helsinki, Finland

Chaired Discussion - ANS
Amolak Bansal, Epsom and St.Helier NHS Trust, UK

Biomarkers
Emerging TRP pathology: the way forward in pharmacotherapeutics and treatment
Don Staines, NCNED, Australia

Immunogenetic studies in ME
Asgeir Lande, Oslo, Norway

Proteomics, steroids and autoantibodies
Jonas Bergquist, Uppsala, Sweden

Dolorimetry, cerebrospinal fluid miRNA, proteomics, metabolomics data
James Baraniuk, Georgetown University, USA

Chaired Discussion - Biomarkers
Professor Jonas Bergquist, Uppsala, Sweden


Summary
Professor Jonas Blomberg, Uppsala, Sweden​

 

The panel "Thinking the future" for students and young researchers with an interest in ME happened for the first time yesterday.






And some familiar faces:


ETA: The Invest in ME Research Bear is also on Instagram with the pictures from the colloquium: https://www.instagram.com/iimerbear/