Harvard ME/CFS Collaborative Research Center

From MEpedia, a crowd-sourced encyclopedia of ME and CFS science and history

In May 2018, the Open Medicine Foundation announced the establishment of a new ME/CFS Collaborative Research Center at the Harvard Medical School affiliated hospitals. This center work in synergy with the ME/CFS Collaborative Research Center at Stanford, led by Ronald Davis.[1]

Notable people[edit | edit source]

This center is led by two OMF Scientific Advisory Board members:

Aims[edit | edit source]

"The Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) Collaboration seeks to conduct clinical and basic science mechanistic studies with high priority given to areas that create major symptoms for patients."[2]

Goals[edit | edit source]

  • to establish a Clinical Trials Network to facilitate multi-center clinical studies on potential effective treatments for ME/CFS
  • to establish a Center of Excellence for ME/CFS[2]

Research project[edit | edit source]

The research focii for this new center are:

  • to collect molecular data on muscle and other tissues affected by ME/CFS
This will include comparing patient muscle biopsies to controls, "examining genomics, proteomics, and ultrastructural analysis". This aims to help uncover the etiology of post-exertional malaise.

This aims to test the hypothesis that "the inflammation-related recovery mechanisms in ME/CFS patients are dysfunctional, and that this delays recovery from post-stress".

This will involve the testing of hypotheses related to microglial cell activation, vagus nerve signaling, and disrupted autonomic and metabolic functioning in the central nervous system. The very advanced MGH/HMS brain imaging at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging will be used.
  • to research the cardiopulmonary problems contributing to fatigue in ME/CFS
This will use the iCPET Cardiopulmonary Laboratory at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston. Exploring the "very specific findings that are seen in ME/CFS patients" to help understand the autonomic dysregulation in ME/CFS, its effects, and its contribution to postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS).
  • to explore plasma repository samples of patients undergoing exercise stresses
This will improve understanding of the proteomics and metabolomics in patients.[2]

Funding[edit | edit source]

OMF has funded $1.8 million for the first year of this new ME/CFS Collaborative Research Center at Harvard.

Notable studies[edit | edit source]

News and blogs[edit | edit source]

Online presence[edit | edit source]

  • Twitter
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Website
  • YouTube

Learn more[edit | edit source]

See also[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Open Medicine Foundation (2018). "ME/CFS Collaborative Research Center at Harvard".
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Harvard ME/CFS Collaboration (2019). "About the ME/CFS Collaboration". Retrieved September 9, 2019.
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