Updates from the UK ME/CFS Biobank / CureME team

Code:

https://www.facebook.com/mecfsbiobank/posts/3650581844989232

https://twitter.com/user/status/1337051513173274624

 

job ad
Research Fellow - Biostatistician (0.4FTE)
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine - Department of Clinical Research

https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/CMD016/research-fellow-biostatistician-04fte

 

Also posted here, United Kingdom: ME Association news

ME Association grants additional £175k to UK ME/CFS Biobank

"The ME Association has supported the ME/CFS Biobank at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine ever since it began in 2011 and has single-handedly been providing funding to keep it operational ever since. We believe it to be an essential project that provides biological samples and clinical data to scientists working on ME/CFS around the world.

We have granted additional funding of £175,000 to keep the Biobank running for another 2 years. This will bring our total investment to over £550,000. The goal has always been to support the Biobank until it can become independent. It will achieve this by selling ME/CFS (and MS) biological samples and data in such quantities that future income supports running costs. The appeal to other scientists working in the field is that it can be more cost-effective to purchase high-quality samples and data rather than (or as well as) having to recruit and take samples and data themselves."

https://meassociation.org.uk/2022/05/me-association-grants-additional-175k-to-uk-me-cfs-biobank/

 

moved posts
rather than create a new thread

job ad
Research Assistant
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine - Department of Clinical Research

https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/CYI254/research-assistant

"including online communication with patient groups."
do we have a representative from LSHTM here?

 

As a former participant, I will dash off an email now to the research nurse to mention SfME as an excellent resource/access to patient groups.

ETA Email sent!

 

Caroline confirmed that the staff at the Biobank are very aware of the forum. Hopefully we can help the Biobank more, when the Research Asst has been appointed ?

 

https://cureme.lshtm.ac.uk/new-study-exploring-the-connection-between-hhv-6-and-me-cfs/

 

The tweet, from the CureME team, says

"We're starting the new year with over 100 new participants! However, our research relies on the comparison between #MECFS patients and healthy controls to uncover vital insights. Volunteer as a healthy control to support #pwME

https://bit.ly/48pLMPT"

 

Are healthy blood samples being taken then? (As per photo)

 

U.K. ME/CFS Biobank has always held a supply of ME/CFS, MS and Healthy Controls bloods to supply for various studies (just from my knowledge as a retired participant)

 

New funding supports ME/CFS diagnostic study

https://cureme.lshtm.ac.uk/new-funding-supports-me-cfs-diagnostic-study/

 

Cross posting here about the PI's at Surrey University seem to have both moved to The United Arab Emirates and are now visiting professors at Surrey. I originally posted on thread https://www.s4me.info/threads/the-n...ned-on-the-lab-bench.34019/page-6#post-523418

Dr Hughes is now at Khalifa University in the United Arab Emirates and visiting professor at Surrey.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-pycraft-hughes-3a77945/?originalSubdomain=ae

Dr Labeed is now working at the United Arab Emirates University and is now a visiting professor at Surrey according to LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/fatima-labeed-phd-0b11b65b/?originalSubdomain=ae

I wonder what this means for the day to day running of the ME Research UK / ME Association funded study.

 

I don't know, but it's possible it might not be a great deal in practical terms.

I'm guessing universities in the UAE might have better resources in some respects? Knowing the poor pay and ever-increasing pressures faced by friends teaching in the UK sector, an institution abroad offering job security, a decent salary, and a workable research budget—or even just one of those—might look very tempting. Dr Labeed seems to have worked at Surrey for 20 years prior to her new appointment.