NIH: Accelerating Research on ME/CFS meeting, 4th and 5th April 2019

Vicki Whittaker Whittemore and Joe Breen of NIH seemed receptive to the idea of an online platform to facilitate sharing of information between researchers and between researchers and patients. It would be a shame to reinvent S4ME. Perhaps, even if we cannot put together a comprehensive S4ME response to NIH's call for feedback (now due on 1 May), at least some of us could mention that there is an existing platform.

Komaroff showed M Davis' slide of the T cell expansion and seemed to be suggesting that he (Davis) had presented on it during the conference and that this is still a live idea. I was making breakfast at the time so may be confused (well, actually confusion is possible without the breakfast activity). Can anyone shed any light on that?

Breen in particular seemed to want more information on disease mechanisms before NIH funding is used for clinical trials. I think that's a shame when ME clinicians are routinely using some treatments and believe they help. At best, a trial would validate a treatment and provide a clue to the disease mechanism. At worst, the waste of giving people useless treatments can be avoided and it will underline just how under-served this illness is in terms of effective treatments. That's still useful.
 
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Only watched Ron`s talk, but very happy that the nanoneedle-paper will get published! Seems like something concrete enough that will get other researchers interested in investigating what might be going on. Anyone know if it will have to get replicated again, or didnt he say that theres is a 1 in a billion chance that it`s wrong? Based on the applied statistics anyway
 
Marky said:
Only watched Ron`s talk, but very happy that the nanoneedle-paper will get published! Seems like something concrete enough that will get other researchers interested in investigating what might be going on. Anyone know if it will have to get replicated again, or didnt he say that theres is a 1 in a billion chance that it`s wrong? Based on the applied statistics anyway
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Did he say whether they've tested any disease controls yet?
 
Jaybee00 said:
Speaking of microglia...



Microglia, cells thought restricted to central nervous system, are redefined in new study

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190404161007.htm
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Ok, so we're not fish, and even less fish models, but this is a fascinating report. I wonder if microglia also respond to viral "injury" in the peripheral nervous system?

(my bolding)
In the study, Smith and his team modeled a brachial plexus injury in zebrafish and observed how microglia and macrophages responded. [...] Once inside the peripheral nervous system, Smith said, microglia do their job of clearing cellular debris at the point of injury, but they return to the CNS with that debris, and could potentially carry it straight to the brain.

The study also showed the microglia return to the CNS in an altered state, which makes the results of this research of particular concern to the study of post-injury development and function.
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Hutan said:
Vicki Whittaker and Joe Breen of NIH seemed receptive to the idea of an online platform to facilitate sharing of information between researchers and between researchers and patients. It would be a shame to reinvent S4ME. Perhaps, even if we cannot put together a comprehensive S4ME response to NIH's call for feedback (now due on 1 May), at least some of us could mention that there is an existing platform.
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It's Vicky Whittemore :)

Unfortunately I didn't see that part of the meeting, so I didn't see what they said. Was the impression given that what they were open to would be 'merely' sharing information from researchers to patients or actual two-way interaction?
 
Hutan said:
Two-way interaction.
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Awesome, thanks. Am writing an introductory email to them now.

However, to back my contact efforts up, if as many forum members as possible can contact the NIH and suggest the forum as a useful resource then that would be incredibly useful, thread for NIH's call for information is https://s4me.info/threads/nih-reque...-on-how-best-to-advance-me-cfs-research.8592/

Bonus points would go to the person who went through the process of submitting a suggestion and also wrote up some guidance on the process for other forum members. :)
 
Does anyone know if the method used by Ron Davis in measuring cell impedance is the same as ECIS shown below?


Electric cell-substrate impedance sensing or ECIS (a trademark of Applied BioPhysics Inc.) refers to a non-invasive biophysical approach to monitor living animal cells in vitro, i.e. within a well-defined laboratory environment.[1]

In ECIS the cells are grown on the surface of small and planar gold-film electrodes, which are deposited on the bottom of a cell culture dish (Petri dish). The AC impedance of the cell-covered electrode is then measured at one or several frequencies as a function of time. Due to the insulating properties of their membranes the cells behave like dielectricparticles so that the impedance increases with increasing coverage of the electrode until a confluent (i.e. continuous) layer of cells is established. In confluent cell layers the measured impedance is mainly determined by the three-dimensional shape of the cells. If cell shape changes occur, the current pathways through and around the cell bodies change as well, leading to a corresponding increase or decrease of impedance. Thus, by recording time-resolved impedance measurements, cell shape changes can be followed in real time with sub-microscopic resolution and can be used for bioanalytic purposes.[2]

As the shape of animal cells responds very sensitively to alterations in metabolism as well as chemical, biological or physical stimuli, the ECIS technique is applied in various experimental settings in cell biological research laboratories. It can be used as a sensor in cytotoxicity studies, drug development or as a non-invasive means to follow cell adhesion to in vitro surfaces.[3] Equipments based on the ECIS technique are also dedicated to monitor the chemokinetic activity of adherent cells spread on the electrode surface (micromotion) as well as their chemotactic activities in ECIS-based wound healing assays.
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dave30th said:
First I'd heard.
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Then this calls for
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