On #InternationalMEAwarenessDay
Research Fund Update for #CofEforME Projects
Finding Facilitating Funding Mainstreaming Energising Doing Biomedical Research into ME
An update to our gut microbiota and related projects being performed at the UK Centre of Excellence for ME in Norwich Research Park brings the total raised so far for projects there to £188,000.
Thanks to our supporters maintaining the momentum in establishing this major UK and European hub for research into ME - joining together the research we have initiated at UEA/Quadram Institute Biosciences, UCL and Oxford and the international links established with European and USA institutes.
We are now funding the future phases of the work for the UK Centre of Excellence for ME foundations.
Our aim is to have at least three PhDs starting each year at the UK Centre of Excellence for ME.
We hope to supplement this with medical students intercalating in their fourth year of study and contributing to the ongoing
biomedical research.
We also wish to add post-doc positions to add more weight to the overall research programme.
More about the research projects within the Research Park is available here. and details of the project leading to the UK rituximab cklinical trial are here.
A foundation of biomedical research is now established for
substantial and continuing research into this disease
which is blighting the lives of so many patients and their families around the world.
This opportunity provides the best possibility for progressing biomedical research into ME and we invite you to support us
in this endeavour.
With enough support we can achieve this and make lasting progress in researching and treating this disease.
For major funders and philanthropists this is an opportunity to resolve a major issue and give back the lives to so many people.
Preparations are also underway for a UK clinical trial of rituximab
and with major European and international collaboration.
Invest in ME Research is a charity committed to bringing high-quality biomedical research to discover the aetiology and produce treatments for this disease in the quickest time-frame possible.
Please help us with this objective.
Please help us raise funds and awareness for this. Join our CofEforME C-Selfie support campaign
- click here
Ways to help us are shown in the column at the right of our page.
The charity is preparing for its 2017 2-day Biomedical Research into ME Colloquium 7 (our annual seventh research colloquium) and the 12th International ME Conference 2017 - both events in London.
With major institutes in attendance from around the world, and with both NIH and CDC participating, these
events will further help progress biomedical research into this disease.
Helping Fund Our Work
Below are ways to help the charity fund the research and the work that is carried out.
Invest in ME Research is an independent UK charity finding, funding and facilitating a strategy of biomedical research into Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME or ME/CFS), as defined by WHO-ICD-10-G93.3. and promoting better education about ME.
Invest in ME Research is run by volunteers - patients or parents of children with ME - with no paid staff.
Overheads are kept to a minimum to enable all funds raised to go to promoting education of, and facilitating and funding biomedical research into, ME.
The charity believes that biomedical research into ME is crucial in order to make progress in treating this disease. We also believe that education of healthcare staff, the media, government departments, patient groups and patients is to be a priority.
The charity's objectives are to initiate, maintain and augment a strategy of high-quality biomedical research into ME, to provide education about ME, and to raise awareness of the effects of the disease on patients and families.
We are a small charity but with supporters who have big hearts - and a determination to get the best possible research to be carried out to find the cause of myalgic encephalomyelitis and develop treatments.
We have links nationwide and also internationally.
Invest in ME Research is a founder member of the European ME Alliance (EMEA), a collaboration of European national charities and organisations.
The charity was also responsible for initiating the European ME Research Group (EMERG) concept, a collaboration of European researchers from major institutes.
The charity also has initiated the European ME Clinicians Council (EMECC), a network of European clinicians who will work together and share experiences of treating ME in order to establish better standards for patient care.
We do not receive, and have never received funding from government or government organisations.
We believe that we need a national strategy of biomedical research into ME to produce treatments and cures for this illness.
We have always believed that the seriousness of the situation regarding ME makes it necessary for governments to provide "ring-fenced" funding for biomedical research in to ME (as was provided for HIV/AIDS) in order to address the need for development of diagnostic tests and remedial treatments.
However, the charity does not believe in merely asking for funding - the charity has pursued of policy of raising funds itself for biomedical research in order to fund research at top UK institutes. More information is available here.We believe that clinicians should standardise on usage of the most up-to-date criteria (currently we emphasise the Canadian Criteria) for diagnosis so that there is an agreed basis (noting that evolutionary improvement would be welcomed).
The charity organises an annual research Colloquium and conference regularly attracting delegates from over 15 countries and funds research at Quadram Institute Bioscience/University of East Anglia and University College London as well as influencing collaboration elsewhere, in UK, Europe and beyond.
Our conferences and colloquiums were organised from the beginning in order to provide a platform for research and a means of facilitating education about ME.
In order to bring the best education and research to bear on ME and to find and facilitate the best strategy of research into this disease the charity welcomes support for our work.
Our aim is to fund and facilitate research in order to establish an understanding of the aetiology, pathogenesis and epidemiology of ME. We hope this will lead to the development of a universal diagnostic test(s) that can confirm the presence of ME and, subsequently, medical treatments to cure or alleviate the effects of the illness
Our efforts are focused on setting up a UK/European Centre of Excellence for ME which will provide proper examinations and diagnosis for ME patients and a coordinated strategy of biomedical research into ME in order to find treatment(s) and cure(s).