CFS/ME Research Collaborative Conference

The UK CFS/ME Research Collaborative Conference (aka CMRC Conference) is a annual conference sponsored by the UK CFS/ME Research Collaborative.

1st Annual Conference - 2014

 * CFS/ME Research Collaborative Inaugural Conference Report 2014 64-page overview of all the presentations and workshops

2014 Speakers

 * Prof Stephen Holgate - Welcome and Taking collaboration forward: next steps
 * Prof Robert Dantzer - Anne Faulkner Lecture: The neuroimmune basis of fatigue
 * Dr Neil Harrison - Interferon-alpha rapidly changes brain microstructure 
 * Alice Russell - Interferon-alpha induced persistent fatigue
 * Dr Lisa Blundell - Blood cytokine concentrations in CFS: a systematic review 
 * Kate Earl - Resveratrol treatment on TNF-α-induced cytokine release 
 * Dr Stuart Watson - Understanding the pathogenesis of autonomic dysfunction in CFS and its relationship with cognitive impairment
 * Prof Wan-Fai Ng - Biological fingerprints of fatigue
 * Prof Carmine Pariante - Inflammation and fatigue: is it different from depression?
 * Dr Sue Wilson - Sleep and CFS/ME
 * Prof Anne McArdle -  Mitochondrial function and cytokine production in skeletal muscle of patients with CFS/ME
 * Dr Esther Crawley - The epidemiology of CFS/ME in adolescence
 * Prof Peter White - PACE: A trial & tribulations
 * Prof Andrew Lloyd - Acute infection & post-infective fatigue as a model for CFS
 * Prof Ian Lipkin - Microbiology & immunology of CFS/ME and other challenging disorders
 * Prof Maria Fitzgerald - Understanding pain mechanism in children and adolescents
 * Prof Jon Tobias - The epidemiology of adolescent CFS and chronic widespread pain
 * Dr Roberto Nuevo - Recovery and persistence from CFS/ME in adolescents
 * Prof Hugh Perry - End of conference summary

2nd Annual Conference - 2015
The 2015 UK CFS/ME Research Collaborative was held 13-14 Oct 2015. Link to the full 44 page conference report.


 * UK CFS/M.E. Research Collaborative Science Conference Day 1, Part 1/3
 * UK CFS/M.E. Research Collaborative Science Conference Day 1, Part 2/3
 * UK CFS/M.E. Research Collaborative science conference Day 1 Part 3/3
 * UK CFS/M.E. Research Collaborative science conference Day 2 Part 1
 * UK CFS/M.E. Research Collaborative science conference Day 2 Part 2
 * UK CFS/M.E. Research Collaborative science conference Day 2 Part 3

3rd Annual Conference - 2016
The 2016 conference was held at the Novotel Hotel, Newcastle upon Tyne, England on Wednesday 28 and Thursday 29 September 2016.

2016 Speakers

 * Professor Stephen Holgate - Welcome and Closing
 * Professor David Ford, Swansea University - SAIL Database: routinely collected data for research
 * Dr Zaher Nahle, representing Solve ME/CFS Initiative - All In at the Solve ME/CFS Initiative
 * Dr Nadia Howard-Tripp, NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow in Rheumatology, on behalf of Prof Fai Ng - Identifying the biological fingerprints of fatigue
 * Professor Julia Newton, Director of Newcastle Academic Health Partners and Clinical Professor of Ageing and Medicine, Newcastle University - Understanding the pathogenesis of autonomic dysfunction in CFS and its relationship with cognitive impairment and Cardiac iodine-123-meta-iodo-benzylguanidine uptake in CFS associates with autonomic function and fatigue severity and Reduced cardiac volumes in CFS associated with plasma volume but not length of disease
 * Alice Russell, King’s College London, on behalf of Prof Carmine Pariante - Persistent fatigue induced by Interferon-alpha: a new immunological model for CFS
 * Sonya Chowdhury, Chief Executive, Action for M.E. - Plenary session: Mapping global research funding over the last 10 years: a UK CFS/ME Research Collaborative-sponsored report
 * Dr Lindsay Keir, Senior Portfolio Developer, Wellcome - Enhancing research funding applications into CFS/ME
 * Dr Julius Bourke, Queen Mary’s University, London - The Brain in Pain studies: central sensitisation in CFS/ME and fibromyalgia
 * Andreas Finkelmeyer, University of Newcastle - Voxel-based morphometry shows reductions in brainstem white matter in CFS/ME
 * Dr Andrea Polli, University of Brussels - Immune-pain interaction following exercise in CFS/ME: associations between exercise-induced hyperalgesia, complement system and elastase activation
 * Victoria Strassheim, Newcastle University - Involving severe and very severely affected CFS/ME individuals in research: a clinician’s view point
 * Dr David Patrick, University of British Columbia - part one part two Researching a Syndrome: Findings from the UBC Complex Chronic Disease Study Group
 * Professor George Davey Smith, University of Bristol - States, traits and diagnosed conditions: implications for the design of population-based studies of human health and disease
 * Professor Caroline Relton, University of Bristol - Epigenetics - what is it and what can it do for ME/CFS?
 * Professor Paul Little, Professor Tom Walley and M.E. patient Opal Webster-Philip - Panel Discussion - Exploring the challenges of gaining ME/CFS funding for the range of science required
 * Dr Nadia Howard-Tripp, NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow in Rheumatology - Fatigue in Primary Sjögrens Syndrome is associated with lower levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines
 * Prof Anne McArdle, University of Liverpool - Metabolism of aberrant mitochrondrial factors and cytokine production in skeletal muscle of patients with CFS
 * Dr Sue Wilson, Imperial College London - Some preliminary results from the SAFFE study
 * Dr Neha Issar-Brown, Medical Research Council - Enhancing research funding applications into ME/CFS
 * Dr Esther Crawley, Bristol University - Investigating the treatment of Paediatric CFS/ME
 * Jessica Van Oosterwijck, University of Antwerp - The role of autonomic function in exercise-induced endogenous analgesia: a case-control study in ME/CFS and healthy people
 * Professor David Jones, Newcastle University - Anne Faulkner Memorial Lecture - Fatigue in PBC: Nearing Journeys End on a Long and Winding Road: Lessons for CFS/ME
 * Dr Sarah Knight, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute - "Improving quality of care in paediatric chronic fatigue syndrome"
 * Dr Juliet Chenery-Robson, University of Sunderland - The visualisation of CFS/ME’s invisibilities
 * Joanna Elson, Mitochondrial Research Group, Institute of Genetic Medicine, Newcastle University - Investigating the possibility of a role for mtDNA variation in CFE/ME

2016 Conference Reports & Video
The 2016 UK CFS/ME Research Collaborative was held 28-29 September 2016.
 * REPORT by: STEPHEN HOLGATE - 16 pages
 * ABBREVIATED CONFERENCE REPORT - 33 pages
 * FULL CONFERENCE REPORT - 92 pages


 * UK CMRC Conference 2016 part 1/10
 * UK CMRC Conference 2016 part 2/10
 * UK CMRC Conference 2016 part 3/10
 * UK CMRC Conference 2016 part 4/10
 * UK CMRC Conference 2016 part 5/10
 * UK CMRC Conference 2016 part 6/10
 * UK CMRC Conference 2016 part 7/10
 * UK CMRC Conference 2016 part 8/10
 * UK CMRC Conference 2016 part 9/10
 * UK CMRC Conference 2016 part 10/10

Fourth Annual Conference - 2017
The 2017 conference was held at Future Inns Cabot Circus, Bond St South, Bristol, England on Wednesday 13 and Thursday 14 September 2017.

2017 Speakers - Day 1

 * Professor Stephen Holgate - Welcome
 * Dr Avindra Nath, National Institutes of Health, USA - Post-infectious CFS/ME study at National Institutes of Health
 * Dr Matt Wall, Imanova, London, UK - Imaging in research
 * Prof Alan Silman, Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Science, University of Oxford, UK - Overview of fatigue in arthritis:insights for CFS/ME
 * Gina Wall, Royal Free Hospital Fatigue Service, London, UK - Examining Joint Hypermobility Syndrome in a London fatigue clinic
 * Dr Peter Rowe, John Hopkins Children’s Centre for CFS, Baltimore, USA - Orthostatic Intolerance and the lessons from the last two decades
 * Prof Dr Frans Visser, Cardiac Care Foundation, Hoofddorp, Netherlands- Orthostatic Intolerance
 * Dr Linda van Campen, Stichting Cardiozorg, Amsterdam, Netherlands -  Cerebral blood flow decline: deconditioning or disease?
 * James McCullagh, University of Oxford, UK - Investigating altered metabolism in ME/CFS
 * Prof John Gallacher, University of Oxford, UK - Brain health in an age of platform science

2017 Speakers - Day 2

 * Dr Julia Newton, University of Newcastle, UK - Collaboration
 * Dr Karl Morten, University of Oxford, UK - Investigating mitochondrial function in health and disease (Dr Morten's talk starts at 15:00 minute mark)
 * Dr Neil Harrison, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, UK - Using insights from psychoneuroimmunology to better understand ME/CFS Fatigue
 * Prof Carmine Pariante, Kings College London, UK - Persistent Fatigue Induced by Interferon-alpha: A new Immunological Model for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, part 1 part2
 * Phil Murray, Patient Advisory Group member - Patient Advisory Group: A valuable resource for ME research

2017 Conference Reports & Video

 * Report of the Fourth Annual Science Conference

Fifth Annual Conference - 2018
The 2018 conference was held on 19 and 20 September 2018 in Bristol, UK.

2018 Speakers - Day 1- 20 September 2018

 * Professor Stephen Holgate - Welcome
 * Dr Nina Muirhead, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust - The views of a Doctor with ME on educating Doctors and medical students about ME
 * Prof Alain Moreau, University of Montreal, Canada - Identification of post-exertional dysregulated circulating microRNAs in ME/CFS pathogenesis
 * Dr Eliana Lacerda, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine - European collaboration in ME/CFS: The EUROMENE network
 * Dr Mark Jones, UCB Pharma - What will it take for the pharmaceutical industry to engage in CFS/ME drug discovery?
 * Rachel Hunter, University College London - The economic impact of CFS/ME
 * Rachel French, County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust - CFS/ME, IBS and Fibromyalgia: Chance association or common pathway
 * Prof Frances Williams, Kings College London - Twins and the study of chronic pain genetics
 * Dr Luis Nacul, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, CureME - The UK ME/CFS Biobank: Accelerating global research in ME/CFS
 * Jo Elson, Newcastle University - Oral Abstract Presentation: Investigating the possibility of a role of mtDNA variation in ME/CFS
 * Tiffany Lodge, University of Oxford - Oral Abstract Presentation: Alterations of cellular metabolism observed in muscle cells, indicating possible factors present in plasma of patients with ME/CFS capable of modifying cell function
 * Pawel Zalewski, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland - Effects of whole-body cryotherapy among CFS patients – preliminary results
 * Dr Neil Harrison - MRC-funded update: Imaging exercise-induced Post-Exertional Malaise in ME/CFS
 * Dr David Tuller - Panel Q&A session

2018 Speakers - Day 2 - 20 September 2018

 * Prof Chris Ponting, CMRC Deputy Chair; University of Edinburgh - Welcome
 * Prof Cathie Sudlow, UK Biobank, University of Edinburgh - Anne Faulkner Memorial Lecture: Big health data and open science: a powerful combination to generate new understanding of disease
 * Dr Elisa Oltra, Universidad Católitica de Valencia - Differential microRNA profiles in PBMCs and plasma EVs of severely affected ME/CFS patients
 * Prof Carmine Pariante, Kings College London - MRC Funded Update: Persistent fatigue induced by interferon-alpha: a novel, inflammation-based, proxy model of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
 * Dr Sue Pemberton, Yorkshire Fatigue Clinic - Workshop 1: Activity as treatment – myths and methods
 * Prof Chris Ponting, University of Edinburgh - Workshop 2: Biomedical research priorities
 * Sue Luscombe, Hampden Health Limited and Dr Michelle Dobrota-Gibbs, Freelance dietician and nutritionist -  Workshop 3: Nutrition and CFS/ME – The search and research for evidence
 * Stephen Simpson - Working together against the pain, isolation and fatigue of arthritis