INVEST IN ME RESEARCH

Professor of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland

Professor Partinen is a neurologist and an internationally well-known opinion leader and expert in sleep research and sleep medicine.

He is currently working as Research Director of the Helsinki Sleep Clinic, Vitalmed Research Centre.
He works also at Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, and at Akademiska Sjukhuset, University of Uppsala.

His expertise covers sleeping, nutrition (what to eat), and other aspects of modern life and well-being.
His current research projects include narcolepsy, Parkinson's disease, insomnia, traffic accidents and daytime sleepiness.

He has published more than 250 articles in peer-reviewed international journals, several books and chapters.

He was recently (Now 2015) elected as the new President of the Finnish Parkinson Association. Professor Partinen is also a member of the European ME Research Group (EMERG) and European ME Clinicians Council (EMECC).

• Researchgate Professor Markku Partinen

Dr Friðbjörn Sigurdsson is Program Director Internal Medicine, Landspitali University Hospital in Rejkjavik, Iceland.Friðbjörn

CURRENT POSITIONS

• Program Director Internal Medicine, Landspitali University Hospital (since October 1 2013)
• Attending Medical Oncology, Landspitali University Hospital (since April 1 2001)
• Attending Hematology, Landspitali University Hospital (part time since May 2009)
• Medical Oncology and Hematology, Akureyri Hospital (part time since June 2010)

PREVIOUS POSITIONS

• Chief Internal Medicine, Landspitali University Hospital
• Chief Medical Council Landspitali University Hospital, Iceland
• Attending, Oncology, Landspitali Hospital, Reykjavik, Iceland
• Attending, Internal Medicine, Reykjavik City Hospital, Iceland
• Læknasetrið – private practice, Reykjavik, Iceland
• Chief Internal Medicine, Neskaupstadur Hospital, Iceland
• Chief Internal Medicine Vestman Islands Hospital, Iceland
• Stykkishólmur, heilsugæsla og sjúkrahús.

Professor Leonard Jason has been among the most prolific of all ME/CFS researchers. For more than a decade, Dr Jason and his team at DePaul University’s Centre for Community Research in Chicago have worked to define the scope and impact of ME/CFS worldwide. Dr Jason has been a key driver of ME/CFS research since 1991, and is uniquely positioned to support collaboration between ME/CFS researchers, patients, and government decision makers. His studies have shown that the direct and indirect costs of ME/CFS amount to $20 billion in the U.S. each year, and more than 1 million people suffer from ME/CFS as opposed to the estimated 20,000 people originally reported by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

Researchgate Professor Leonard Jason

Hilma received her medical degree from the University of Iceland in 2000.
She completed her internal medicine training at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and her clinical cardiology training at Emory University in Atlanta.
She then pursued research training in cardiovascular genetics at deCODE in Iceland.
Hilma has been on faculty at deCODE since 2008 and currently leads the company´s cardiovascular effort.
She is actively involved in a wide range of cardiovascular research, including lipids and atherosclerosis, conduction and arrhythmias, congenital heart disesae and heart failure.

Hilma also completed training in clinical echocardiology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, in 2014, and is actively involved with patient care at Landspitalinn, the National University Hospital.

Source: https://www.decode.com/management/

• Researching the long-term effects of COVID-19
• Researchgate Hilma Holm's research

Research Director, Coordinating Research Centre, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital, Denmark
Co-chair European ME Research Group

Expertise
Autonomic nervous system; Heart rate and blood pressure control; Cardiovascular physiology and pathophysiology;
HPV vaccines and -complications
Main research areas Methods for the study of autonomic cardiovascular control; Mathematical modelling of cardiovascular control; Autoimmune response to vaccination; Mathematical modeling of the neuroinflammatory reflex
Current research Mathematical analysis of hemodynamic adaptations to the upright posture.
Mathematical analysis of hemodynamic response to Valsalva manoeuvre
Dynamic T-wave alterations and the autonomic nervous system
Mathematical analysis of cytokine response to LPS in humans
Autoimmunity in patients with possible side effects to HPV vaccination

• Researchgate Dr Jesper Mehlsen
• Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) in Denmark: Increasingly recognized or new epidemic?

Hypothesis: Mitochondrial metabolic dysfunction in ME

During this session, we will discuss potential causes of this mitochondrial metabolic dysfunction in ME, how it may relate to PEM and fatigue, and if attempts to revert it by pharmaceutical and diet manipulation will reverse or worsen ME symptom burden.

Our research group has a longstanding interest in inborn errors of mitochondrial metabolism with special focus on fatty acid oxidation disorders. We integrate genetic diagnostics of affected families with research into cell pathological mechanisms and novel treatment modalities in the form of mitochondrial vitamins/co-factors and anaplerotic compounds for the tricarboxylic acid cycle. In recent years, we have initiated research programs to understand the role that mitochondria may play in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS).

Besides science, Rikke KJ Olsen is an active member of the Neonatal Screening Program for inborn errors of metabolism in Denmark and board member of international scientific organisations within fatty acid oxidation disorders and ME/CFS.

• ORCID: Associate Professor Rikke Olsen

Professor Tronstad completed his graduate studies in biochemistry at the University of Bergen (UiB) in 2002. As postdoc at the Haukeland University Hospital, he studied bioactive compounds with the potential to modulate mitochondrial functions in cancer cells. In 2005 he was recruited to the Department of Biomedicine, UiB, where he started his research group to investigate metabolism and mitochondrial physiology. His laboratory seeks to better our understanding of how defective mitochondrial homeostasis may disturb cell physiology, and how this may be involved in mechanisms of cancer and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS).

Karl was involved with the recent paper to come from Bergen - Journal of Clinical Investigation Insight.

The Tronstad Lab investigates cell metabolism and mitochondrial biology.

Specialisms:
Metabolism, Cell biology, Mitochondria, Biochemistry

• References

  • Researchgate

Dr. Bhupesh Prusty is Group Leader in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Würzburg in Germany

Dr. Bhupesh Prusty finished his Doctoral studies in New Delhi, India and afterwards started his professional scientific life in Germany in 2006 with Prof. Harald zur Hausen.
Afterwards he started his own research group in 2014 and since then he has been involved with herpesvirus research. As an independent researcher, he has made significant discoveries to understand molecular mechanisms of HHV-6/HHV-7 latency and reactivation. His major achievements include identifying molecular mechanism of HHV-6 reactivation by telomeric-circle formation, the finding of HHV-6A infection in neuronal Purkinje cells of bipolar patients and the characterization of mitochondrial dysfunction in ME/CFS.

His current research interest involves studying molecular biology of HHV-6/HHV-7 encoded small non-coding RNAs and their potential role in human diseases.

• Researchgate: Dr. Bhupesh Prusty

Career
2007- present Director, Biomedical Research Centre, University of East Anglia
1997-2005 Head of Department of Immunology and Pathology, Institute for Animal Health, Pirbright Laboratory, Woking, Surrey.
1994-1997 Head, Virus Cell Biology Group, Institute for Animal Health, Pirbright Laboratory, Woking, Surrey.
1991-1996 Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston USA.
1991 - 1994 Assistant Professor, Division of Immunology, Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
1988-1992 Claudia Adam's Barr Investigator in Cancer Research, Fellow of the Medical Foundation of the Charles King Trust and Basil O'Connor Scholar Award of the March of Dimes Research Foundation, Dept Molecular Immunology, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School
1982-1988 BBSRC NATO Fellow and Fellow of the Parker Francis Pulmonary Research Foundation. Department of Cell Biology, Washington University Medical School, St Louis.

The Wileman group at the Quadram Institute studies how viruses activate autophagy during cell entry and replication.

Consultant Immunologist, Spire Hospitals, Surrey, UK

Previously, Consultant in Immunology/Allergy and CFS/ME, Department of Immunology and Allergy, St Helier Hospital, Carshalton, Surrey.

Aletta Kraneveld, full professor Interdisciplinary Translational Pharmacology at the Faculty of Science and the faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the Utrecht University has published over 100 papers (H-index: 35).
Besides science, she is an active member of several (advisory) boards of national and international scientific organisations.
The Kraneveld group is focused on research into the role of the gut-immune-brain-axis in neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders including the interaction of microbiota and their fermentation products with the immune and nervous system.

• Researchgate Professor Aletta D. Kraneveld

Elisa Oltra currently works at the Catholic University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain. Elisa does research in Cancer Research, Cell Biology and Genetics.

• Researchgate Professor Elisa Oltra

Professor Kristian Sommerfelt is a paediatric neurologist at Haukeland University hospital in Bergen, NorwayKristian Sommerfelt

Professor Sommerfelt wrote the national guidelines (2019) for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of ME/CFS children/ young people for the website NEL (Norsk Elektronisk Legehåndbok) - which is a web-based methods used the most by general practitioner doctors and also used extensively in hospitals. Over the last eight years he has given lectures and presentations at courses and conferences for health professionals and others in addition to teaching medical students.

• References

  • Researchgate

Maureen R. Hanson is Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology & Genetics. She received a B.S. degree at Duke University and a Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology from Harvard University. After completing an NIH postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard, she joined the faculty of the Biology Department at University of Virginia. She moved to Cornell as Associate Professor and was promoted to Professor in 1991. She is presently a member of the graduate Fields of Genetics and Development, Plant Biology, and Biochemistry, Molecular, and Cell Biology. She has previously served as Associate Director of the Cornell Biotechnology Program and Director of the Cornell Plant Science Center. She is currently Director for the Center for Enervating Neuroimmune Disease.

• References

  • Researchgate Professor Maureen Hanson

Doctor and research fellow
Research and Education Unit
Medical department
UNN Harstad
Norway

Day 1 summary

Hypothesis -Immune and Immune genetic factors drive the development and progression of ME/CFS

Hypothesis: Host microbe interactions that affect the gut brain axis can predispose to ME/CFS

Hypothesis: Therapeutic strategies should target the triggering and subsequent signalling events that cause the hallmark clinical symptoms of ME.

Day 2 summary

RTI International

this section is open to all delegates to discuss the preceding presentations

To be announced

To be confirmed

https://quadram.ac.uk/people/aimee-parker/

• Researchgate: Dr Aimée Parker

https://quadram.ac.uk/people/stefano-romano/

• Researchgate: Stefano Romano

Bradlee L. Heckmann is an American biologist and neuroimmunologist who is currently an investigator at the Byrd Alzheimer's Center and USF Health Neuroscience Institute and assistant professor in molecular medicine at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. Prior to his faculty appointment, Heckmann held the John H. Sununu Endowed Fellowship[1] in immunology at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Heckmann's research is focused on understanding the regulation of inflammatory processes in the central nervous system, with particular emphasis on neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's Disease[2] and the role of the autophagy machinery in this setting. Source: Wikipedia

• Researchgate: Professor Bradlee Heckmann

Dr. Wallukat led the research team that discovered the role of autoantibodies in dilated cardiomyopathy. He has been instrumental in investigating the role and function of autoantibodies in heart disease and other conditions at the Max-Delbrück-Center of Molecular Medicine in Berlin.

Dr. Wallukat also co-founded Affina Immuntechnik GmbH to to develop an adsorber for the new therapeutic option of immunoadsorption.

He is currently researching new ways to neutralize pathogenic autoantibodies without immunoadsorption.

Dr. Wallukat studied biology in Berlin and Leipzig and began his scientific work at the Institute of Cardiovascular Research of the Academy of Sciences with Prof. A. Wollenberger. After the unification of Germany he worked as head of a working group at the Max Delbrück Center of Molecular Medicine examining the immunology of cardiovascular diseases.

source:https://berlincures.de/the-team

• Researchgate: Gerd Wallukat

Dr. Nath received his MD degree from Christian Medical College in India in 1981 and completed a residency in Neurology from University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, followed by a fellowship in Multiple Sclerosis and Neurovirology at the same institution and then a fellowship in Neuro-AIDS at NINDS.

He held faculty positions at the University of Manitoba (1990-97) and the University of Kentucky (1997-02).

In 2002, he joined Johns Hopkins University as Professor of Neurology and Director of the Division of Neuroimmunology and Neurological Infections.

He joined NIH in 2011 as the Clinical Director of NINDS, the Director of the Translational Neuroscience Center and Chief of the Section of Infections of the Nervous System.

His research focuses on understanding the pathophysiology of retroviral infections of the nervous system and the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for these diseases.

source:https://irp.nih.gov/pi/avindra-nath

• Nath A. Neuroinfectious diseases: a crisis in neurology and a call for action. JAMA Neurol. 2015;72(2):143-4.
• Uzasci L, Auh S, Cotter RJ, Nath A. Mass spectrometric phosphoproteome analysis of HIV-infected brain reveals novel phosphorylation sites and differential phosphorylation patterns. Proteomics Clin Appl. 2016;10(2):126-35.
• Li GH, Anderson C, Jaeger L, Do T, Major EO, Nath A. Cell-to-cell contact facilitates HIV transmission from lymphocytes to astrocytes via CXCR4. AIDS. 2015;29(7):755-66.
• Johnson TP, Patel K, Johnson KR, Maric D, Calabresi PA, Hasbun R, Nath A. Induction of IL-17 and nonclassical T-cell activation by HIV-Tat protein. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013;110(33):13588-93.
• Douville RN, Nath A. Human endogenous retroviruses and the nervous system. Handb Clin Neurol. 2014;123:465-85.
• Long-Haul COVID

Dr. Brian Walitt’s research seeks to better define the nature of chronic symptoms. His expertise in epidemiology allows for the characterization of symptom disorders and their impact on society.
As NINR’s Medical Officer, Dr. Walitt collaborates with the scientists in the Division of Intramural Research to understand the biological mechanisms for a wide array of symptoms, including their effects on patients and how patients respond to interventions.
Increasing scientific understanding of the nature of symptoms will provide these individuals and their families with more clarity about their symptoms and potentially translate into meaningful interventions.

Experience
Serves as the Acting Clinical Director of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health
Serves as the Medical Officer for the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research
Completed his Internal Medicine residency training at George Washington University Hospital and his Rheumatology fellowship training at the MedStar Health Washington Hospital Center
Served as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Georgetown University

source:https://www.ninr.nih.gov/researchandfunding/dir/bwalitt

• Researchgate: Brian Walitt

Emeritus Professor Warren Tate from University of Otago in New Zealand - is an internationally respected biochemist, winner of the Royal Society of New Zealand's top science honour - the 2010 Rutherford Medal, and was also named a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
His honour citation noted that Professor Tate was a molecular biologist, whose research had "revolutionised understanding" of how proteins were synthesised in living cells. His research had shown how proteins contributed to memory formation and neurological disease, and had important implications for HIV, Alzheimer's and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Emeritus Professor Warren Tate FRSNZ CNZM

• Professor Warren Tate has been an academic and researcher at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand spanning 54 years.

• He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, and internationally, a Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany, and was an International Research Scholar of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute of the United States.

• He is currently an Emeritus Professor working full time but having formally retired in 2020

• Professor Tate’s research currently has a strong interest in unexplained human diseases.

• Initially he was a discovery molecular biologist with a fundamental interest in how proteins are made in our cells, and how protein synthesis and the genetic code arose 3-4 billion years ago. He co-discovered a new rare mechanism of gene regulation, translational frameshifting.

• Professor Tate also works on mammalian memory and Alzheimer’s disease and the development of a potential therapeutic agent based on a natural neuroprotective brain protein, secreted amyloid precursor protein alpha.

• Most recently in 2012 he established a research programme on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis /Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) focussing on preclinical studies with New Zealand patients.

• Professor Tate approaches research on ME/CFS through the dual lens of an affected family of 30 years and a biomedical researcher. He has found molecular signatures for the illness supporting its biological basis and is now studying whether Post Covid-syndrome (Long COVID) long haulers who have ongoing illness from SARS-CoV-2 infection have the same molecular signatures found in ME/CFS.

Professor Tate is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry.
He has been a Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany, and an International Research Scholar of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute of the United States.

Read more:https://www.otago.ac.nz/biochemistry/people/profile/index.html?id=37

• Researchgate: Warren Tate

After Medical School Prof. Lange combined her clinical training in Internal Medicine with basic research on sleep-immune interactions in healthy individuals in the frame of DFG-funded interdisciplinary consortia on sleep and (immunological) memory formation. After her board certification and habilitation in Internal Medicine, she started her clinical training in Rheumatology, received a professorship for psychoneuroimmunology and currently delineates brain-immune interactions in patients with systemic autoimmune diseases.
Source: https://northship.org/about-us/tanja-lange/

Read more:https://www.grk1727.uni-luebeck.de/people/associated-scientists/tanja-lange.html

• Researchgate: Tanja Lange