BRMEC8 Colloquium 2018
The eighth Invest in ME Research Biomedical Research into ME Colloquium (BRMEC8) took place in London over two days: 30th–31st May 2018.
Aimed at boosting international collaboration in ME research.
There was representation from most of the main biomedical research initiatives occurring throughout the world and also participation fron USA's Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The research Colloquium in London will precede the IIMEC13 annual public international biomedical research conference on 1st June 2018.
| Event | Presenter(s) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08:30 | Arrival Refreshments | ||||
| Welcome to the 8th Invest in ME International Biomedical Research into ME Colloquium | Dr Ian Gibson, UEA, UK | ||||
| Clinical Research | |||||
| CDC Multisite study and future plans | Dr Elizabeth R. Unger, CDC, USA | ||||
| NIH Common Data Elements | Dr Vicky Whittemore, NIH, USA | ||||
| Challenges in study design and identification of patients with post-infectious ME | Dr Avindra Nath, NIH, USA | ||||
| From phenotype to endotype: empirical and data-driven approaches for parsing clinical heterogeneity of ME using immune signatures, proteomics and metabolomics | Associate Professor Mady Hornig, Columbia University, USA | ||||
| Chaired Discussion - Clinical Research | Professor Angela Vincent, University of Oxford, UK | ||||
| Clinical Trials | |||||
| Clinical trial Results: Rituximab | Dr Øystein Fluge, Bergen, Norway | ||||
| Neuronal antibodies in Norwegian ME cohort | Angela Vincent, Oxford University, UK | ||||
| Clinical trial Results: CycloME | Dr Ingrid G. Rekeland, Bergen, Norway | ||||
| Chaired Discussion - Clinical Trials and Research | Amolak Bansal, Epsom and St.Helier NHS Trust, UK | ||||
| Microbiome | |||||
| Double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical Trial: faecal microbiota transplantation | Dr Rasmus Gol /Dr Peter Johnsen, Universit of Tromso, Norway | ||||
| Virome and gut microbiota research at QIB | Fiona Newberry/Katharine Seton, Quadram Institute Bioscience, UK | ||||
| Chaired Discussion - Microbiome | Professor Maureen Hanson, Cornell University, USA | ||||
| Purinergic Signalling / Metabolomics | |||||
| Extracellular ATP and its role as a neurotransmitter and in regulating inflammatory responses | Dr Samuel Fountain, UEA, UK | ||||
| Biobank Metabolomics Data | Dr Øystein Fluge, Bergen, Norway | ||||
| How UK Biobank can facilitate research into ME | Naomi Allen, UK Biobank / University of Oxford, UK | ||||
| Cellular energetics | Professor Karl Johan Tronstad, Bergen, Norway | ||||
| Metabolism in ME/CFS | Professor Maureen Hanson, Cornell University, USA | ||||
| Stanford Metabolomics/ME Update | Professor Ron Davis, Stanford, USA | ||||
| How important are the associated metabolic changes in ME/CFS in driving the illness? | Dr Karl Morten, University of Oxford, UK | ||||
| Chaired Discussion - Purinergic Signalling / Metabolomics | Professor Jonas Bergquist, Uppsala, Sweden | ||||
| Event | Presenter(s) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08:30 | Arrival Refreshments | ||||
| Welcome to the 8th Invest in ME International Biomedical Research into ME Colloquium | Dr Ian Gibson, UEA, UK | ||||
| Virology | |||||
| The role of enteroviruses in T1 diabetes | Professor Heikki Hyöty, University of Tampere, Finland | ||||
| HPV and autoimmunity | Dr Jesper Mehlsen, Copenhagen, Denmark | ||||
| Chaired Discussion - Virology | Professor Tom Wileman, University of East Anglia, UK | ||||
| Immunology | |||||
| Mast cells and ME | Professor Theoharis Theoharides, Tufts University, USA | ||||
| T cell homeostasis | Dr Ben Seddon, UCL, London, UK | ||||
| Oxidative stress hypothesis for reprogramming PBMC to iPSCs then to Neurons in ME/CFS patients | Malav Trivedi, Nova Southeastern University, USA | ||||
| Chaired Discussion - Immunology | Anne Cooke, University of Cambridge, UK | ||||
| Systems Biology | |||||
| Integrated systems biology to understand the role of the gut microbiome in health and disease | Lesley Hoyles, Imperial College London, UK | ||||
| Using machine learning to objectively define ME/CFS subtypes | Travis Craddock, Nova Southeastern University, USA | ||||
| Chaired Discussion - Systems Biology | Professor Jonas Bergquist, University of Uppsala, Sweden | ||||
| ANS | |||||
| Observations in Paediatric ME | Professor Kristian Sommerfelt, Bergen, Norway | ||||
| Relationship between sleep quality and functioning of the autonomic nervous system in ME/CFS | Markku Partinen, University of Helsinki, Finland | ||||
| Chaired Discussion - ANS | Amolak Bansal, Epsom and St.Helier NHS Trust, UK | ||||
| Biomarkers | |||||
| Emerging TRP pathology: the way forward in pharmacotherapeutics and treatment | Don Staines, NCNED, Australia | ||||
| Immunogenetic studies in ME | Asgeir Lande, Oslo, Norway | ||||
| Proteomics, steroids and autoantibodies | Jonas Bergquist, Uppsala, Sweden | ||||
| Dolorimetry, cerebrospinal fluid miRNA, proteomics, metabolomics data | James Baraniuk, Georgetown University, USA | ||||
| Analysis of miRNA comparing PBMCs and exosomes profiles | Elisa Oltra, Universidad Católica de Valencia “San Vicente Mártir”, Spain | ||||
| Chaired Discussion - Biomarkers | Professor Jonas Bergquist, Uppsala, Sweden | ||||
| Summary | Professor Jonas Blomberg, Uppsala, Sweden | ||||
Young Researchers
The Thinking the Future conferences are research meetings organised by the charity to encourage biomedical research into ME and international collaboration amongst young and early career researchers. This has been a major objective of the charity. An international family of researchers working together has been facilitated by the Invest in ME Research BRMEC* Biomedical Research into ME Colloquiums held annually in London, UK. To ensure that a foundation of biomedical research into ME can be sustained and to encourage new ideas from new areas then we cannot rely just on this family of researchers that has been built up from all parts of the world. We need to draw in knowledge and expertise from other areas – as we have been doing for many years with our research Colloquiums and international Conferences. Importantly, we also need to encourage early career researchers – and young researchers.
29th May 2018
The first Young/ECR Conference took place in London on 29th May 2018.
The conference aimed to increase international collaboration in research into ME by initiating a new network for young/ECR researchers.
Representation came from six countries and included experienced researchers from Oxford, Cambridge, Uppsala in Sweden, Columbia and Tufts in USA.
The USA National Institutes of Health (NIH) was also represented.
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