EU Horizon funding - Prof. Simon Carding, €7.5 million
- Thread starter InitialConditions
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V.R.T.
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
That is a lot of funding. Good to see that kind of money in the field. Have to say though, I haven't been that impressed with the work coming out of the UEA so far.
As a totally irrelevant side note the UEA has (or at least had) a great music venue and I saw all kinds of bands there as a teenager.
As a totally irrelevant side note the UEA has (or at least had) a great music venue and I saw all kinds of bands there as a teenager.
InitialConditions
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
I can't find anything about it — just a few other studies with the same name.
I've been searching for info on EU Horizon projects that have been funded, but can't find much on that either.
ME/CFS Science Blog
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
It's not public yet, seems like MERUK announced it a bit early but suspect that more info will be available soon.
Think it's great news.
V.R.T.
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
That delay makes me wonder what's going on with SequenceME funding we don't know about yet...
What do we reckon of the chances of EU Horizon funding for Sequence?
This project sounds interesting, I hope it covers more than just the usual microbiome stuff.
Jonathan Edwards
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Is there any information on what will be studied?
Andy
Senior Member (Voting rights)
Prof Carding shared this with us in the PRIME group,
"DISCOVER-ME includes 21 partners and ME research groups spread across Europe and North America. I co-lead the programme with an Austrian colleague and in addition to the Quadram Institute, Cardiff Univ. and David Price are the UK, and PRIME, representatives in the consortia."
Title Biological evidence and mechanism-based disease classification for the improved diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of ME/CFS (DISCOVER-ME)
Abstract
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a debilitating multisystem disease affecting up to 1% of the population. It is defined by post-exertional malaise, persistent fatigue, cognitive and neurological symptoms, and autonomic, endocrine, and immune dysfunction. Clinical heterogeneity and the absence of specific diagnostic tests lead to long delays in diagnosis, lack of effective therapies, and a socioeconomic burden exceeding €40 billion annually in Europe. DISCOVER-ME will deliver the first clinically actionable, biologically validated stratification framework for ME/CFS. Through harmonised clinical phenotyping of 2,000 patients and multi-omics profiling of >900 samples from five European biobanks, the project will identify, validate, and prioritise biomarkers across (epi)genetic, immune, metabolic, neuroendocrine, and vascular domains. This large-scale, reproducible approach overcomes decades of fragmented, underpowered studies that have stalled progress. Three innovations set DISCOVER-ME apart: (i) a robust biomarker discovery and validation pipeline; (ii) the first systems-level taxonomy of ME/CFS grounded in mechanistic disease drivers and supported by AI-assisted stratification; and (iii) open-access disease maps and digital twin models that combine biological mechanisms with social and economic determinants of health, enabling in silico testing of therapeutic hypotheses. These outputs will underpin biomarker-guided clinical trials and precision drug repurposing. Patient involvement is embedded throughout—from co-design of phenotyping tools to surveys, stratification frameworks, and policy recommendations—ensuring that lived experience informs all biomedical and computational outputs. By integrating patient, clinical, and biological perspectives, DISCOVER-ME will deliver evidence and tools directly relevant to patients, clinicians, and health systems.
"DISCOVER-ME includes 21 partners and ME research groups spread across Europe and North America. I co-lead the programme with an Austrian colleague and in addition to the Quadram Institute, Cardiff Univ. and David Price are the UK, and PRIME, representatives in the consortia."
Title Biological evidence and mechanism-based disease classification for the improved diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of ME/CFS (DISCOVER-ME)
Abstract
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a debilitating multisystem disease affecting up to 1% of the population. It is defined by post-exertional malaise, persistent fatigue, cognitive and neurological symptoms, and autonomic, endocrine, and immune dysfunction. Clinical heterogeneity and the absence of specific diagnostic tests lead to long delays in diagnosis, lack of effective therapies, and a socioeconomic burden exceeding €40 billion annually in Europe. DISCOVER-ME will deliver the first clinically actionable, biologically validated stratification framework for ME/CFS. Through harmonised clinical phenotyping of 2,000 patients and multi-omics profiling of >900 samples from five European biobanks, the project will identify, validate, and prioritise biomarkers across (epi)genetic, immune, metabolic, neuroendocrine, and vascular domains. This large-scale, reproducible approach overcomes decades of fragmented, underpowered studies that have stalled progress. Three innovations set DISCOVER-ME apart: (i) a robust biomarker discovery and validation pipeline; (ii) the first systems-level taxonomy of ME/CFS grounded in mechanistic disease drivers and supported by AI-assisted stratification; and (iii) open-access disease maps and digital twin models that combine biological mechanisms with social and economic determinants of health, enabling in silico testing of therapeutic hypotheses. These outputs will underpin biomarker-guided clinical trials and precision drug repurposing. Patient involvement is embedded throughout—from co-design of phenotyping tools to surveys, stratification frameworks, and policy recommendations—ensuring that lived experience informs all biomedical and computational outputs. By integrating patient, clinical, and biological perspectives, DISCOVER-ME will deliver evidence and tools directly relevant to patients, clinicians, and health systems.
Jonathan Edwards
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
That sounds worryingly like a global fishing exercise from ground zero.
ME/CFS Science Blog
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Why worryingly? Bigger samples sizes and more omics data that is not hypothesis-driven seem quite welcome.
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V.R.T.
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Where would you suggest they focus their investigations?
hotblack
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
More info on Prof Carding and his work on the intestinal microbiome and possibility of immune responses in ME/CFS here
quadram.ac.uk
Somewhat sceptical of talk of gut causes everywhere, in this and the Imperial work. But it seems popular. And getting more data seems like a a good thing if they approach it right. They may not be saying they have a hypothesis but there must be something deciding what data they choose to gather and how, a lot depends on that. So I’ll wait until we hear more.
The talk of disease stratification makes me think of the other trend which isn’t necessarily helpful, to try to divide us into lots of different little groups.
Simon Carding - Quadram Institute
Upon completing postgraduate work at the Medical Research Council’s Clinical Research Centre in Harrow, I “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...
quadram.ac.uk
Somewhat sceptical of talk of gut causes everywhere, in this and the Imperial work. But it seems popular. And getting more data seems like a a good thing if they approach it right. They may not be saying they have a hypothesis but there must be something deciding what data they choose to gather and how, a lot depends on that. So I’ll wait until we hear more.
The talk of disease stratification makes me think of the other trend which isn’t necessarily helpful, to try to divide us into lots of different little groups.
Mike Harley
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
This is an EMERG and Invest In ME led grant win. I have no idea why MER are promoting it.
Jonathan Edwards
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Overall, this is of course fantastic news, as the disease needs to be recognized as worthy of funding on this kind of scale. If you look at it from that angle alone, it's already very welcome news.
What is slightly worrying, however, is that the data they are collecting likely (?) comes from biobanks that are not properly stratified themselves and do not include PEM samples or CSF samples, among other things.
Maybe this funding will be used to improve and enlargen existing biobanking and sampling, I certainly hope so, but if not, that's definitely a bit worrying.
If you asked me what the best use of that kind of money would be, I would say it should be invested directly in biobanking itself, including developing frameworks to determine how to do it properly. That's not exactly an easy task in this disease.
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ME/CFS Science Blog
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
The consortium might not be able to do everything on our wish list but it will enable large omics studies which will likely be useful for the entire field. So don't quite get why that would be worrying.
There might be new leads if we test ME/CFS with large enough sample sizes.
These Horizon Europe calls are also more suited to large collaborations that are multidisciplinary take everything on board (there are lots of requirements and checklists to be met). So applications focused on a particular topic like genetics are more difficult to get funded with this grant.