United Kingdom: ME Research UK (MERUK) News

Funding announcement.

Cause-effect relationships in the mitochondrial energy inefficiency in ME/CFS

"We are very pleased to announce that ME Research UK has made a new award for PhD-level research. This project is being conducted at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia by PhD student Tina Katsaros under the supervision of Dr Sarah Annesley."

https://www.meresearch.org.uk/research/cause-effect-relationships/
 
From Facebook:
Our 2023 call for grant applications ended just over a week ago and we were delighted with the response – 24 high-quality applications from researchers around the world, and addressing a number of important research questions. Now begins the challenging task for our Science Committee to assess all these projects.

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Unfortunately they would only have the funds to fund a fraction of them.
 
ME Research UK and Daphne Jackson Trust launch ME/CFS Fellowship

"Applications are invited for a three-year Daphne Jackson Fellowship co-sponsored by ME Research UK. The Fellowship is open to talented researchers with a PhD – likely in a life science e.g. biomedical sciences, whole organismal biology, molecular genetics, infection and microbiology, structural biology, biological chemistry, who wish to return to research within a UK university or research institution after a career break of two or more years."

https://www.meresearch.org.uk/me-research-uk-and-daphne-jackson-trust-launch-me-cfs-fellowship/
 
@meresearchuk ME Research UK has launched a new X/Twitter feed, namely, the ME Research UK - Reseacher Zone (@MEresearchzone) which will share information and resources for researchers in the field of ME/CFS. This will operate alongside the current general feed - @MEResearchUK but aimed at researchers, whether established or early career.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1698635440436215933
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Merged thread - see also post #33 above.

Title: Daphne Jackson Fellowship

Location: Edinburgh

Salary: £34,308 pro rata - £39,745 pro rata

Job type: Part Time, 2.5 days a week

Daphne Jackson Fellowships are unique - they offer professionals wishing to return to a research career after a break of two or more years, the opportunity to balance an individually tailored retraining programme with a challenging research project in a suitably supportive environment. The unparalleled support offered by the Trust's Fellowship Advisors and administrative staff, coupled with mentoring and retraining provided during the Fellowship, give returners the confidence and skills they need to successfully return to research.

There are three fellowships available across Scotland.
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Another opportunity is that applicants are invited for a three-year Daphne Jackson Fellowship co-sponsored by ME Research UK (SCIO - SC036942). The Fellowship is open to talented researchers with a PhD - likely in a life science e.g. biomedical sciences, whole organismal biology, molecular genetics, infection and microbiology, structural biology, biological chemistry, who wish to return to research within a UK university or research institution after a career break of two or more years.

The principal aim of ME Research UK is to commission and fund high-quality scientific (biomedical) investigation into the causes, consequences and treatment of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (also known as ME/CFS).
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https://www.reed.co.uk/jobs/daphne-jackson-fellowship/51264608
 
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Ongoing project: Exploring patterns of antibodies in moderate and severe ME/CFS

"One possible route to the development of such a tool is to look at the pattern of antibodies produced by the body as part of the immune response, and the central idea behind Dr Lacerda and Prof. Cambridge’s study is that many of the features of ME/CFS could stem from the body’s immune system attacking its own damaged proteins following an infectious or toxic insult. These proteins may be damaged by an excess of toxic molecules (reactive oxygen species).

An immune response is characterised by the production of antibodies, and Dr Lacerda and Prof. Cambridge plan to analyse the pattern of antibodies in samples from patients with moderate and severe ME/CFS (from the UK ME/CFS Biobank), linking them to changes in specific proteins. Their results may form the basis of new diagnostic tools for the disease, including stratification of patients based on severity."

https://www.meresearch.org.uk/research/lacerda-061-info/
 
Andy said:
Ongoing project: Exploring patterns of antibodies in moderate and severe ME/CFS

"One possible route to the development of such a tool is to look at the pattern of antibodies produced by the body as part of the immune response, and the central idea behind Dr Lacerda and Prof. Cambridge’s study is that many of the features of ME/CFS could stem from the body’s immune system attacking its own damaged proteins following an infectious or toxic insult. These proteins may be damaged by an excess of toxic molecules (reactive oxygen species).

An immune response is characterised by the production of antibodies, and Dr Lacerda and Prof. Cambridge plan to analyse the pattern of antibodies in samples from patients with moderate and severe ME/CFS (from the UK ME/CFS Biobank), linking them to changes in specific proteins. Their results may form the basis of new diagnostic tools for the disease, including stratification of patients based on severity."

https://www.meresearch.org.uk/research/lacerda-061-info/
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Objectives
In this pilot study, the researchers will analyse serum samples from ME/CFS patients and controls from the UK ME/CFS Biobank. They will use unique immunoprofiling technology (the Krex Syngenics platform, which has been developed specifically to search for new disease biomarkers) to describe the pattern of antibodies in these samples, and their analysis will be focused on 1,600 proteins which have roles in metabolism, immunology and neurology, and which may therefore be relevant to ME/CFS.

The patterns of antibodies detected will be used to generate a serological ‘map’ of patients with moderate and severe ME/CFS, which can be compared with that from healthy controls. They will also be able to compare the results with data from other clinical conditions, which are increasingly available.
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Jo Cambridge has been working on this screening method for some time. It is a bit like a DecodeME for antibodies - looking across a very wide range then trying to make sure a signal is meaningful.

Unfortunately Jo has been seriously unwell and is only just now getting through that.
 
Jonathan Edwards said:
Jo Cambridge has been working on this screening method for some time. It is a bit like a DecodeME for antibodies - looking across a very wide range then trying to make sure a signal is meaningful.

Unfortunately Jo has been seriously unwell and is only just now getting through that.
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Very interesting. The rituximab study [B-cell auto-antibodies] was relatively small & the [Fluge & Mella] Daratumumab [plasma cell auto-antibodies] study is very small (6 participants). Would a negative results for Daratumumab e.g. indicate that autoantibodies are not a common
disease mechanism? Still, identifying a rare autoimmune case might give a clue to a more common [non-autoimmune] mechanism. So many questions ---

Good to hear Jo's health has improved.
 
ME Research UK

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ME Research UK is delighted to announce that we have awarded funding to Prof. Simon Carding at the Quadram Institute for a new project investigating the role of gut viruses in ME/CFS.

The researchers plan a comprehensive analysis of the gut virome in people with ME/CFS, to identify signature viruses that might be involved in the development of the disease, and could represent a new biomarker. They will also look at whether they respond to microbiota transplantation therapy.

Read more: https://www.meresearch.org.uk/research/carding-060
More detailed description:
https://www.meresearch.org.uk/research/carding-060-info

https://twitter.com/user/status/1713873382846919053
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