BRMEC15 AGENDA

Professor Simon Carding

UK

Upon completing postgraduate work at the Medical Research Council’s Clinical Research Centre in Harrow, Professor Carding “emigrated” to the USA to take up a postdoctoral position at New York University School of Medicine, and then at Yale University as a Howard Hughes Fellow in the Immunobiology Group at Yale University. While at Yale an interest in gamma-delta (γδ) T cells was acquired working closely with Adrian Hayday on molecular genetics and then with Prof. Peter Doherty to establish their role in (viral) infectious disease.
He left Yale after five years to take up a faculty position at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia where he developed a research interest in mucosal and GI-tract immunology, performing studies in germfree mice with Prof John Cebra that helped establish the role of gut microbes in the aetiology of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
After 15 years in the USA, he returned to the UK to take up the Chair in Molecular Immunology at the University of Leeds where he established a new research programme on commensal gut bacteria and Bacteroides genetics leading to the development of a Bacteroides drug delivery platform that is being used for developing new interventions for IBD and for mucosal vaccination.
In 2008 he was recruited by UEA and IFR to develop a gut research programme, taking up the Chair of Mucosal Immunology at UEA-MED and the position of head of the Gut Biology Research Programme at IFR, which later became part of the Gut Health and Food Safety (GHFS) Programme.
GHFS research covers a broad area of gut biology including epithelial cell physiology, mucus and glycobiology, mucosal immunology, commensal microbiology, foodborne bacterial pathogens, and mathematical modelling and bioinformatics. The success of this programme has led to the establishment of the Gut Microbes and Health research programme that is integral to the research agenda of The Quadram Institute.

Dr Jesper Mehlsen

Denmark

Dr Jesper Mehlsen graduated as a medical doctor in 1979 and finished his specialist training in 1990. He has published more than 140 scientific papers in peer reviewed journals, mainly on the autonomic nervous system and more recently on complex diseases possibly resulting form HPV-vaccination.
For more than 35 years, he has worked clinically and in research with dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system. Such dysfunction may lead to symptoms from a number of different organs often dominated by diminished control of blood pressure and heart rate.
Over the past 5 years, he has worked clinically and in research with patients who suspect side effects due to HPV vaccination to be the cause of a number of symptoms, common to those seen in chronic ME.
Dr Mehlsen is co-chair of the European ME Research Group (EMERG).

Tamas Korcsmaros

UK

Dr Tamas Korcsmaros is a systems biologist working with both computational and experimental approaches to study signalling networks in the gut.
For 15 years, he has been been working in the field of intra- and inter-cellular signalling networks and the regulation of autophagy, a key cellular process for maintaining health and fight diseases. He is particularly interested in how cell-cell and cell-microbe interactions affect intestinal homeostasis, and how one could use precision medicine to tackle current challenges to treat patients with inflammatory bowel disease.
In his group they have developed gap-filling computational resources and applied experimental novel systems, such as organoids, to achieve these goals.
Besides leading his research group that focuses on improving our understanding on the pathomechanisms of IBD, he is also co-leading the NIHR Imperial BRC Organoid Facility to establish patient-specific multi-omics studies for various complex diseases.

REFERENCES

References

• Korcsmaros lab
• Researchgate Tamas Korcsmaros

David Price

UK

Professor David A Price MRCP DPhil DTM&H FAoP FLSW FRSB graduated with double first class honours in medical sciences and pathology at the University of Cambridge and completed his clinical training at King's College Hospital London.
He practised internal medicine, specialising in infectious and tropical diseases, before pursuing a doctorate in molecular immunology at the University of Oxford.
After further academic clinical appointments, his research was conducted with fellowship support at the NIH Vaccine Research Center.
He was appointed as Chair of Infection and Immunity at Cardiff University School of Medicine in October 2007.
His research program focuses on the development and implementation of advanced biotechnologies to characterise immune responses against globally relevant pathogens, such as HIV-1 and SARS-CoV-2.

REFERENCES

• Cardiff University Profiles
• Cardiff University awarded major funding to research long Covid
• NIHR Researching long COVID: addressing a new global health challenge

Associate Professor Jos Bosch

Netherlands

In 2012 he was appointed associate professor in the Department of Psychology, section Clinical Psychology.
His research investigates the psychobiology of medical disorders, with the aim to understand and mitigate the impact of disease.
His dual expertise in psychology and biology allows him to approach this topic in a genuinely interdisciplinary manner, by integrating methods and concepts from both fields, and apply these to experimental laboratory studies, clinical investigations, and epidemiological analyses. More recently hsi work has expanded to include Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a source of novel approaches to the analysis and modification of human biology and behaviour. The latter program of research is funded by two H2020 consortium grants, of which he isa lead and a coordinator, and involves intensive collaborations with groups accross continental Europe, the UK, and the US.

Since 2019 he became Associate Editor of Health Psychology Review, having previously acted as associate/senior editor for Brain, Behavior & Immunity (2011-2014), Psychological Bulletin (2010-2013), and Health Psychology (2010-2015).

In 2018 he was appointed Program Leader of the AMC/VUmc research institute ‘Amsterdam Public Health' (APH), Divsion of Mental Health (https://www.amsterdamumc.org/research/institutes/amsterdam-public-health.htm). In 2020 I was reappointed for 2 more years.

In 2023 Jos was awarded a grant of more than seven million euros to commence new biomedical research into ME/CFS.

Further reading:

Associate Professor Rikke Katrine Jentoft Olsen

Denmark

Rikke's 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 ME.

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 Jonas Bergquist

Sweden

Professor Begquist has a background as MD, Associate Professor of Clinical Neuroscience , Sahlgrenska University Hospital and the University of Gothenburg. Since 1999 , he has been a researcher in Uppsala, Sweden, and in 2005 was appointed professor of analytical chemistry and neurochemistry at the Department of Chemistry - BMC , Uppsala University. From 2011 he worked also as an adjunct professor of pathology at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.

Associate Professor Eva Untersmayr-Elsenhuber, MD, PhD

Austria

Dr. Eva Untersmayr-Elsenhuber Associate Professor of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research at The University of Vienna. Her research interests are Immunology and Microbiology, Comparative Immunology and Oncology, Pathophysiology.
In 2011, Dr.in Eva Untersmayr-Elsenhuber completed her specialist training. Since then, Dr.in Untersmayr-Elsenhuber has worked as a specialist and associate professor at the ” Institute of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research at the Medical University of Vienna. In 2012, Dr.in Eva Untersmayr-Elsenhuber completed her part-time doctoral studies in natural sciences at the University of Salzburg and received her doctorate (Dr. rer. nat.). She is the author of more than 40 internationally acclaimed articles published in renowned journals, which have so far been cited more than 1000 times by other authors in publications. For her work in the field of food allergy, Dr.in Untersmayr-Elsenhuber has received numerous prizes such as the Pirquet Prize, the most important prize in the field of allergy research of the Austrian Society for Allergology and Immunology, the Theodor Billroth Prize of the Medical Association of Vienna and the Vienna Chamber of Commerce Prize 2014.
In addition, Dr Eva Untersmayr-Elsenhuber has led and managed numerous competitively funded research projects on food allergy, gastrointestinal immunology and oncology since 2005. She is a member of national and international committees such as the Austrian and European Societies for Allergolgy and Immunology and the Collegium Internationale Allergologicum. Dr. Untersmayr-Elsenhuber has participated in numerous science communication activities for years, such as the production of information brochures, the Children’s University, the Long Night of Research and Science at the VHS Vienna.
(with grateful thanks to https://www.praxis-neustift.com/en/prof-ddr-eva-untersmayr-elsenhuber/)

Links:

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Elisa Oltra

Spain

Dr. Elisa Oltra is a professor of Cell and Molecular Biology at the Universidad Católica de Valencia “San Vicente Mártir” where she also works as a researcher in the area of stem-cell and cancer.
She obtained an M.S. degree in Biochemistry at the Universitat de Valencia (Spain) and later earned her PhD in Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Miami, FL (USA) where she stayed for her post-doctoral training and later, as Senior Scientist till 2006 when she moved back to Spain. During her studies at the University of Miami she identified alternative 5´UTR sequences involved in regulating cell-cell communication through mechanisms of differential connexin43 expression in the heart.
She also isolated a novel essential protein (Ini) and demonstrated its participation in mechanisms of transcription and splicing.
In 2009 she started a project to investigate the molecular basis of Fibromyalgia having identified at present irregularities in RNAseL expression and miRNAs profile changes in the participating patients which could lead to a deeper understanding of the disease.
In 2012 she joined the IVP Valencian Institute of Pathology, also at the Universidad Católica de Valencia where she is currently studying a specific type of vesicles: the exosomes, as mediators of stem-cell based therapies.
She is also academic director of the first officially accredited Master degree in Biobanking in Europe in collaboration with the Spanish Network of Biobanking at the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid (Spain).

Professor Maureen Hanson

USA

Maureen Hanson is Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Previously she was on the faculty of the Department of Biology at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and an NIH NRSA postdoctoral fellow at Harvard, where she also completed her Ph.D. degree. While most of her prior research has concerned cell and molecular biology in plant cells, she began a research program on ME/CFS after noting at a 2007 IACFS meeting the paucity of molecular biologists studying the illness. Her lab was part of the 2012 multicenter study organised by Ian Lipkin's group at Columbia University to assess the actual role of XMRV in ME/CFS. Dr. Hanson has a current project to examine the microbiome of ME/CFS patients and controls, in collaboration with Dr. Ruth Ley (Cornell Microbiology) and Susan Levine, M.D. (Manhattan, NY). Dr Levine is also collaborating with Dr. Hanson on an immune cell gene expression project that involves Dr. Fabien Campagne and Dr. Rita Shaknovich at Weill Cornell Medical School in New York City. Dr. Hanson's third project concerns analysis of blood samples from individuals performing a two-day cardiopulmonary exercise test at Ithaca College under the supervision of Dr. Betsy Keller.

Dr Vicky Whittemore

USA

Dr. Whittemore is a Program Director in the Synapses, Channels and Neural Circuits Cluster. Her interest is in understanding the underlying mechanisms of the epilepsies including the study of genetic and animal models of the epilepsies.

The major goal is to identify effective treatments for the epilepsies and to develop preventions. Dr. Whittemore received a Ph.D. in anatomy from the University of Minnesota, followed by post-doctoral work at the University of California, Irvine, and a Fogarty Fellowship at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

She was on the faculty of the University of Miami School of Medicine in The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis prior to working with several non-profit organizations including the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance, Genetic Alliance, Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE), and the National Coalition for Health Professional Education in Genetics (NCHPEG).

She also completed a four-year term on the National Advisory Neurological Disorders and Stroke Council.

Other Links

• ResearchGate

Douglas D. Fraser

Canada

Professor Fraser, a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, holds a position as Professor and Clinician Scientist in Paediatric Critical Care/Trauma Medicine at Western University in London, Ontario.
He completed his MD/PhD in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Calgary, Alberta, receiving a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Strategic Training Fellowship and several esteemed International Research Awards from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Society for Pediatric Research.
As Director of the Translational Research Centre, a human tissue biobank operating for over 15 years, Professor Fraser has garnered multiple Research Innovation Awards and successfully filed numerous patents. He is also a Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of NeuroLytixs, Inc., a diagnostics-based biotech company.
Professor Fraser's research focuses on identifying signalling pathways and diagnostics/prognostic biomarkers for acquired brain injury, severe sepsis and COVID-19. His work includes profiling Long-COVID patients for proteome changes, with particular emphasis on understanding the immune response.
Currently, he leads two International Multicentred Long-COVID Research Programmes: "LC-Optimize" (Identification of Long-COVID Sub-Phenotypes to Optimise Patient Outcomes) and "LC-Statistic" (Sudden Death Associated with Post-COVID Condition).

Anna Niarakis

France

Dr Anna Niarakis is a Full Professor of Computational Systems Biology at the University of Toulouse III-Paul Sabatier, affiliated with the Center of Integrative Biology and the Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Dynamics. She holds a 4-year delegation for research at INRIA- Saclay, in the group Lifeware.
Dr Niarakis has a broad scientific background in Biochemistry, Biology, Pharmaceutical Technology and post-doctoral studies in Computational Systems Biology and Bioinformatics (ENS, Paris, Institut Gustave Roussy) with expertise in complex human diseases, especially autoimmune diseases.
She is a co-leader of the Disease Maps consortium coordinating the COVID-19 Disease Map initiative, and she also leads the Working Group “ Building Immune Digital Twins”, supported by the Research Data Alliance.
Dr Niarakis has significant expertise in academic teaching and mentoring, course design and management and is also very active in organizing and participating in international summer and winter schools of Computational Systems Biology.
She is the main co-organizer and the leading instructor of the Wellcome Trust Advanced Course "Computational Systems Biology for Complex Human Disease: From Static to Dynamic Representations of Disease Mechanisms" :
Courtesy https://cbi-toulouse.fr/eng/equipe-niarakis

Further Information:

• Computational Systems Biology Team

Dr Olli Polo

Integrativ Clinic, Stockholm, Sweden p> Dr Olli Polo, MD, PhD, is a Finnish pulmonologist, sleep specialist and physician with expertise in physiology, currently practising at the Integrativ Clinic in Stockholm. Formerly a professor of pulmonology at Tampere University, his clinical and research interests focus on myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), with particular attention to sympathetic nervous system dysfunction, circadian rhythm disturbances and tissue hypoxia.

Dr Polo’s work emphasises the role of connective tissue abnormalities, such as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, as potential contributors to ME/CFS. His clinical approach includes experimental therapies such as low-dose naltrexone, supplemental oxygen, saline, vitamin B12, and dopamine agonists, while advising caution regarding psychiatric medications and certain sleep aids.

He has published extensively on sleep disorders and related conditions and has presented at international conferences. Dr Polo is known for advocating patient-centred care in ME/CFS.

More information
https://www.integrativakliniken.se/about-1
ResearchGate Olli Polo

Professor Ronald Davis

Stanford School of Medicine in Stanford Professor of Biochemistry and Genetics at the Stanford School of Medicine in Stanford, California, USA

Ronald W. Davis, Ph.D., is a Professor of Biochemistry and Genetics at the Stanford School of Medicine in Stanford, California.

He is a world leader in the development of biotechnology, especially the development of recombinant DNA and genomic methodologies and their application to biological systems.

At Stanford University, where he is Director of the Stanford Genome Technology Center, Dr. Davis focuses on the interface of nano-fabricated solid state devices and biological systems.

He and his research team also develop novel technologies for the genetic, genomic, and molecular analysis of a wide range of model organisms as well as humans.

The team's focus on practical application of these technologies is setting the standard for clinical genomics.

• References

  • Stanford Genome Technology Center
  • on Davis named one of today's greatest inventors
  • The Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Research Center (CFSRC)

Denise Visser

Netherlands

Denise Visser, a researcher at University Medical Center Utrecht, has revealed extensive brain inflammation in her research. Her work with Neuro-PET imaging has shown significant inflammation throughout the brain in patients with long-term symptoms after COVID-19, also known as Long COVID. These findings, which demonstrate in vivo neuroinflammation, are crucial as they provide the first direct evidence of widespread brain damage in living patients who have recovered from COVID-19 Visser, a researcher at University Medical Center Utrecht, has revealed extensive brain inflammation in her research. Her work with Neuro-PET imaging has shown significant inflammation throughout the brain in patients with long-term symptoms after COVID-19, also known as Long COVID. These findings, which demonstrate in vivo neuroinflammation, are crucial as they provide the first direct evidence of widespread brain damage in living patients who have recovered from COVID-19.

Further Information:

• Long covid patients show extensive brain inflammation

Rowan Gardner

Co-founder, PrecisionLife, UK

Rowan has over 30 years of experience working in innovative businesses applying computational methods to life science and patient data to understand disease and find new medicines and treatments for unmet medical needs.
She is on the board of Digital Health and Care Wales a strategic health authority tasked with the digital transformation of NHS in Wales, and is responsible for oversight of the digital governance and safety committee.
Rowan holds a Masters in biochemistry from the University of Oxford and played a part in one of the university's first spinouts, Oxford Molecular Group, when it listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1994. She also collaborated with the pioneering team at CERN to disseminate the applications to cloud computing frameworks in healthcare and pharmaceutical research.