Updates from the UK ME/CFS Biobank / CureME team

CureME Christmas Appeal
At this time, we are particularly keen to look at the biological effects of Long Covid and any similarities to ME/CFS, with the hope of discovering more about ME/CFS disease mechanisms to improve its diagnosis and treatment. We welcome donations from individuals/organisations to help us carry out this important work
https://cureme.lshtm.ac.uk/cureme-christmas-appeal/
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Code: 
https://www.facebook.com/mecfsbiobank/posts/3650581844989232


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

The post-holder will be joining the CureME research group, to help with longitudinal data analysis, including clinical and lab-based derived data on consenting research participants with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), and control groups, from the UK ME/CFS Biobank (UKMEB). Alongside this, there will be opportunities to contribute to grant applications, including high profile epidemiological studies using electronic health record data. Furthermore, the post-holder will be expected to help drafting the resulting publications and will be co-authoring them with the team.
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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
The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is a world-leading centre for research and postgraduate education in public and global health. Our mission is to improve health and health equity in the UK and worldwide; working in partnership to achieve excellence in public and global health research, education and translation of knowledge into policy and practice.

Applications are invited for a Research Assistant to join the CureME Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/ Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) research team.

The postholder will be a critically important member of the research team and will contribute to the preparation of study instruments, data collection, communication with participants, epidemiological and clinical data analysis, preparation of grant applications and peer-reviewed academic publications and reports.

The postholder will also support the clinical research team by performing literature review and assisting with data cleaning, assisting with statistical analysis of complex datasets, publication, and report preparation, along with other dissemination activities, including online communication with patient groups.
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https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/CYI254/research-assistant

"including online communication with patient groups."
do we have a representative from LSHTM here?
 
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From the link in the tweet:
https://cureme.lshtm.ac.uk/new-funding-supports-me-cfs-diagnostic-study/
In 2019, a study conducted by Ron Davis and Rahim Esfandyarpour demonstrated promising results: a technology capable of accurately distinguishing ME/CFS patients from healthy individuals with unprecedented precision.

Based on this pioneering work, ME Research UK and the ME Association have jointly funded a new 12-month study. Led by Professor Robert Dorey, Dr. Fatima Labeed, and Professor Michael Hughes from the University of Surrey, along with CureME’s Dr. Eliana Lacerda and Caroline Kingdon, the team aims to expand their research to include a larger cohort. This group will encompass individuals with varying degrees of ME/CFS severity, as well as healthy controls and those with multiple sclerosis (MS).

This grant supports a diverse team with expertise spanning biomedical engineering, clinical medicine, and public health. Its primary aim is to develop a reliable, repeatable, and low-cost diagnostic tool utilising the electrical signature obtained from a simple blood test. Additionally, the team seeks to identify cellular changes associated with ME/CFS, which could open doors to novel treatment approaches.

The receipt of this funding marks a significant milestone in ME/CFS research and holds promise for improving the diagnosis and treatment of individuals affected by this debilitating condition worldwide.
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New funding supports ME/CFS diagnostic study
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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.
 
wigglethemouse said:
I wonder what this means for the day to day running of the ME Research UK / ME Association funded study.
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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.
 
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